The Second Great War
by zachlorthan
Summary: RWBY: The Great War complete rewrite. A darkness has unveiled itself in the world, and seeks to destroy everything. Our Heroes are joined by friends old and new to try and beat back the threat, but Can they? Or will they be consumed like scattered dust?
1. A New Adventure

Ruby gave a wild cry as she swung her scythe, voice full of anguish, hate, and fear as she struggled to reach her comrade. She had seen Weiss go down under the tidal wave of Beowolves that had ambushed them, hearing her cry out as they had surrounded her, pulling her down to the ground and out of sight of her friends.

The sound of Yang's gauntlets, Ember Celica, rang out repeatedly over the sounds of combat and the growls of Grimm, mingling with her sister's cries and shouts of rage. Ruby, somewhere in the back of her terrified brain, thought that she had to be nearly out of shells, but in her current state of mind, Yang clearly no longer cared. Blake spun fluidly through the clumsy creatures that fell under her swift but sure blows, keeping back the monsters that threatened to overrun Yang, who didn't seam to care at all that they were so close to death.

She mashed her fist into the gut of an overzealous Beowulf, it's back blowing out as the Dust covered buckshot punched through the flesh. Blake tried to snap her out of it.  
"Yang, we need to move, now."  
"YOU WANT SOME, YOU MOTHERFUCKINGPEICESOFSHIT!" was Yang's only response. She either couldn't hear Blake, or decided to ignore her. Her path was marked by a wave of shimmering air, caused by the flames breaking out around her. 

Blake tried one last time, "Yang-" but she was cut off as Yang dove past her, her gauntlets slamming down onto the head of one of the Grimms. The Grimm exploded as a fireball eviscerated it from within, flesh burning as it flew outward in a starburst explosion.

A foul stench filled the air as Grimm flesh flew, dissolving as it went. Blake felt a wave of heat suck the air from her lungs, leaving her momentarily breathless. In the moment of distraction, one of the Beowolves got a shot in, picking her up and throwing her at Yang, and knocking what was left of the air in her lungs back out. She landed at Yang's feet, and their eyes met. Blake found herself hypnotized by the solid scarlet color of her partner's hatred-filled eyes, even as she struggled to breath.

Yang's face, for a moment, was one of intimate concern for Blake, then in a flash it changed to absolute rage and hatred towards the creature that had injured her friend. The air around Yang was like a desert, hot and dry as she sapped any moister out of it that the snow hadn't already done, and melting the snow beneath her her fiery footsteps. With a cry of unintelligible, but terrifying sound, she leaped towards the creature even as it leaped back at her. Her momentum was enough that she pushed the creature over backwards, straddling it's chest as it flailed and began punching it's face, over and over and over, despite killing it within the first couple of blows.

Blake regained her feet, holding her stomach for a moment as she caught her breath. Miraculously, the attention of the creatures around them seemed as fixated on yang as her own sight was, and she couldn't blame them. The ferocity she witnessed would make an Ursa Major stop in it's tracks. However, the beasts wouldn't hold back out of shock for long. She pushed forward, grabbing Yang's shoulder mid punch, and was forced to jump back as Yang almost swung at her, her vision blurred by her pure rage. Yang recovered herself, however, and grumbled some form of an apology, not looking at Blake as she turned back to the enemy.

Ruby reached Weiss, slicing her way through the throng of creatures who were standing over her partner. Weiss appeared through the fur and teeth, looking relatively unharmed. The creatures hadn't depleted her aura, though judging from the faint glow around her it wouldn't last much longer. Ruby gripped her arm and pulled her to her feet, causing Weiss to wince, as she had her arm in a death grip.

"Are you alright?" Ruby shouted over the noise.  
She shrugged her off, shouting "I told Yang it was a bad idea to go this way!"

Her rapier, Myrtenaster, flashed in her hand, and a line of fire incinerated half a dozen of the beasts. Ruby shook her head, always amazed by her friend's ability to shake off the horror's of battle. Not even near death did she seam shook or shocked. 

"Come on, we need to get back to Blake and Yang," she said, fighting her way through the shallow group of enemies that had closed in between her and her team mates. Blake and Yang had managed to widen a circle around themselves, as the Grimm began to close in, still dozens, maybe hundreds strong. Ruby and Weiss pushed into the circle, which closed behind them like a grotesque wall of teeth, claws, and hate.

The group moved back to back, the pack withdrawing as it prepared for a secondary assault. Yang cocked her gauntlets, the spent shell casings flying out with a resounding 'ping', before burying themselves in the snow at her feet, the semi-liquid hissing at the touch of the hot metal.

She had calmed the slightest bit, and she loaded her last belts into the gauntlets, realizing that she had wasted too much on the few she had actually managed to kill. Blake dropped the empty magazine from Gambol Shroud's hilt, sliding in another as she assessed the situation. Of the group, she had the most ammunition left in reserve, though it was all normal rounds, having spent her last Dust rounds protecting Yang. "As good a way to die as any," she thought to herself.

Weiss was thinking furiously, creating and disregarding ideas at light-speed, each more and more unlikely than the one before it, refusing to consider that this might be her end, or, more importantly, the end of her friends. Ruby was calm, despite the exhaustion gnawing at her insides. She trembled slightly, just barely enough to be seen, but she kept her head.

"Is everyone alright?" Ruby shouted, trying to get her bearings. She knew none of the team would even mention if they were hurt but figured she needed some reassurance regardless.

"Wouldn't matter if we were okay or not, we need to get out of here!" Weiss shouted back.

"I know, I'm working on it… Yang, I want you and Weiss to focus on finding the Alpha. If we can put it down, we have a chance. Blake, you and I will try to hold the attention of the pack, since we have the best weapon reach and arc. If nothing else it will buy us some time till we can figure something out."

Yang nodded tiredly, her rage having subsided significantly as exhaustion began to take it's toll. Digging deep into her reserves, she shouted back, "I'm on top of it sis. Weiss, can I get a lift?"

"Sure." Weiss was as tired as all the others, but like them she reached for the spare tank and managed to summon some energy, casting glyphs into the sky around them, and two closer to the ground, so Yang could get above the crowd. Yang nodded appreciatively and leaped from glyph to glyph till she was above the monsters, where she began to race around the circle of glyphs, looking for her target. Whenever she saw a plausible target she let fly a fireball, which exploded on impact, killing and maiming for a several meter radius.

Ruby dug the blade of Crescent Rose into the snow at her feet, and began to fire from a standing position, Beowolves falling in scores as the bullets passed through at least three before slowing in velocity. Due to her growth spurt, she had been forced to increase the caliber and powder charge of Crescent Rose's rounds, to make up for the extra weight she had to maneuver when performing her acrobatics. This had the unfortunate side effect of fewer rounds per magazine, though the rounds were much deadlier now. The Beowolves redoubled their assault pushing into the breathing room around the three women. 

Blake held back for the moment, allowing Ruby to shoulder most of the burden. Blake wasn't as worn as the other girls, but she was burdened in other ways thanks to her heightened faunus senses. Her nose burned with the smells of gunfire, flames, cold, and death. Her ears were all but useless, filled with sounds of explosions, yells, and endless howling and growling. Her eyes burned from days without sleep, flashes, and colors that endlessly changed. While her body remained strong, her mind and senses were being overcome. 

Blake and Ruby took turns playing offense, allowing one of them to catch their breath while the other was in the midst of the fray. Weiss did her best to aid the group while maintaining her glyphs beneath Yang. Weiss stood a bit away from the group, but Ruby and Blake made sure to keep her covered, and she could still defend herself when she needed to.

Ruby was a wheel of destruction, dismembered Grimm marking her swath of destruction in the radius they maintained, bodies piling up before they could dissipate as she speed her way through her opponents. Contrast to this was a blur of shadow and ribbons, not moving fast, but still impossible to focus on. If Ruby was a tornado, Blake was a hurricane, two forces of nature ripping through the monsters that encroached on their land. But it still wasn't enough. The tornado moved slower with every rotation, and the hurricane was being pushed back by a wall blacker than she was.

A seemingly endless amount of Grimm pushed in on them, no fear, no concept of mercy, and endless hatred compelling the bodies to push on, to drown the blizzard, the tornado, the hurricane, the volcano, until nothing was left but the blackened sea. 

Yang finally spotted the Alpha, back away from the fight and indistinguishable from all those around it except by it's extra bone plates and massive stature. She cocked her arm, about to let another fireball rip. But before she could, a Beowulf leaped up underneath her like a shark, slashing it's claws through the glyph and ripping it apart. Yang's shot went wild, slamming into the ground at Weiss's feet, then blowing up in her face.

Weiss was thrown backwards, struggling to regain her balance as she was pushed back towards her other companions. She managed a backwards roll and came up standing at the last minute, all her glyphs fading to nothing. Yang fell towards the crowd of Beowolves below her, spinning in the air as she redirected her blasts straight down. The explosive metal peppered the monsters, blowing them to pieces, but she felt the slight unhappy vibration in her wrists as her gauntlets ran dry, the last of her ammunition wasted. 

She managed to correct her landing, rolling into the crater she had made. Gauntlets empty and breathing hard, she raced towards the relative safety of her teammates before the wall of fur could close in on her. One wolf rose up in front of her, blocking out the shattered moon with it's height and girth, but she jumped into the air, spinning and dropping her leg down on it's head, using the extra momentum to propel over the falling creature and catapult herself towards her companions.

She came to rest beside Weiss, who was not happy. The edges of her pony tail were singed, and she shouted, "watch where you point those things, you dolt." 

Back at Beacon, such a comment might have been enough, given the circumstances, to send Yang into an explosive rage, but now the words were hollow, a shadow of a habit from a past they could barely remember. Her voice was dry, trembling from exhaustion.  
"Pay more attention to the enemy, then," was Yang's reply, her attempt at a snarl coming across as an exasperated gasp for air.

Ruby couldn't hear what her partners had said, her ears nearly deafened by the hours of fighting and gunfire that had already passed. Her hands were numb from constantly shooting Crescent Rose, and her eyes were practically glued open at this point by the need to see and survive. She fired again and again, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked sideways at Blake, who was pointing at her scythe. Not understanding at first, Ruby looked down. Kicking herself, she realized she that the gun was empty. Sparring seconds to try and remember, she realized she probably hadn't fired a weapon for at least a minute. She dropped the magazine, reaching for another only to come up empty. 

They had been on the road for months, and none of the group had had a decent nights rest in more than half that time. They had been plagued with attacks, infrequent resupplies, and equipment malfunctions, and were hungry, tired, and drained. Now, they were facing down a massive horde of lesser Grimm, and about to die. Ruby's face twisted, forming a strange smile. "Well, I always wanted to be like the hero's from the stories. Might as well die like one." She lifted her scythe over her head with what felt like every ounce of energy she had left, preparing to strike at the Grimm that closed in.

But before she had the chance, something blazed above her head, and she heard a familiar sound. Almost unable to believe it, she looked up, seeing something that was much more terrifying than the sea of Grimm creatures bearing down on her.

Pink explosions flared around the team as grenades rained down around them, blowing back the Grimm. Nora Valkyrie came streaking down from a tree at the edge of the clearing like an angel of destruction, giving a bubbling laugh that didn't quite befit the situation as she brought her hammer down on top of a Beowulf, crushing it into the world's largest (and most disgusting) pancake.

Right behind her was Lie Ren, Storm Flowers blazing as they fired Dust rounds at a cycling rate Ruby had never been able to duplicate. Scores of Beowolves fell under the withering hail of explosive ammunition. 

Pyrrha followed soon after the duo, her spear and shield, Miló and Akoúo̱, glinting in the dying light of the evening sun as it decapitated three Grimm in a single blow. The site of her three friends was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, and had she had the capacity to in that moment she would have cried. But now wasn't the time for tears or joyful reunions, as the crowd of Grimm assaulted them in full force. Ruby again readied herself, this time to cover her allies as best she could.

Ren and Nora were decimating the Grimm, clearly freshly rested and ready to fight. Nora swung her war hammer with what might have been called grace, and plenty of tenacity, smashing, bludgeoning, or throwing Grimm with every powerful swing. Around her danced Ren, covering her back and slashing his way through the arteries of everything that stood in his way. His movements were fluid yet decisive, slashing and shooting through the crowd with long, sweeping gestures.

Yang and Blake jumped in with them, and the quartet began to push their way through the slowly dwindling pool of enemies, Yang relying purely on her raw strength to beat back the tide, while Blake covered her sides with her whipping ribbon of death.

Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha held together in a tight group, a light show of gold, red, and white, as Weiss stood in the middle, shooting out various elements from her sword, while Ruby and Pyrrha fought around her, cutting through the Grimms. Ruby was beginning to get her second (or was it her seventh?) wind. Her arms were no longer trembling, and she found she had the strength to use some of her more acrobatic moves, though without her ammunition she was reliant on moves that kept her feet on or near the ground. 

Ruby slammed her weapon's razor point into the chest of a Grimm, pushing it to the ground and pinning it there, then somersaulted over the length of it's hilt to kick a wolf, which stumbled backwards into Pyrrha's sword, dissipating as it died on her blade. Ruby began to feel the fear melt within her as the tide was reduced to scraps and streams, being torn to pieces by her friends and herself.

Suddenly something huge and heavy grabbed Ruby's foot as she tried to complete her maneuver. She found herself being lifted straight up, then slammed down onto the snow covered ground, her breathe whooshing out, her lungs crumpling like a plastic bag on the end of a vacuum hose. Her vision went dark for a moment, and she felt her aura fizzle out a snow settled over her in a thin dusting. When her sight began to come back, she felt something cold, hard, and very, very sharp pressed against her throat. 

She could just make out the Alpha male of the pack standing over her with it's claws pressed to her neck, it's white armor and glowing red streaks in stark contrast even as her sight was still blurred. It's eyes burned with a conscious hatred, handed down through the Grimm bloodline that had spawned the horrific creature. It opened it's mouth, preparing to either howl or bite. It's breath smelled of decay and fire, and it's throat was nothing but a black sheet, void of light and hope. Ruby looked the creature right in it's eyes, calm spreading over her. She knew she had no energy to fight this. She waited for the inevitable.

"UNHAND HER, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" 

With a flash, the Alpha Grimm went rigid, it's head stopping inches from Ruby's face. it's throat, she noticed, was no longer devoid of decoration, as a long, elegant length of silver metal now sprouted from a hole in the roof of it's mouth. Looking higher, Ruby found herself looking at the sharp angled hilt of Myrtenaster, a palm sized glyph rotating silently on it's pommel. Looking away from the Grimm, Ruby got an upside down look at Weiss, who was standing almost 30 yards away, a look of absolute and utter hatred, lashed through with highlights of fear, etched across her face.

Ruby had a detached thought. 'She is a lot scarier than I thought'. She felt the weight of the creature leave her body as it dissolved, and she rolled to the side as Myrtenaster fell, taking her place in the snow. She picked it up the tool that had saved her, then stood, snow falling from her body to the ground and leaving her with a cold, powdered coat. The sounds of fighting had died down to nothing, and the Grimm ambush party had been almost completely slaughtered.

In mere minutes, thanks to the reinforcements from the other team, the tables had turned, together managing to fight off the assault. The last Grimm was nothing more than a melting shadow at Yang's feet, who's eyes were returning to their usual violet color. The snow around them fell extremely silent, and Ruby thought for a moment she might have gone completely deaf. There were no more howls, no more gunshots. The snow was falling harder, and slowly beginning to obscure the signs of battle, craters filling with snow, snow covering spent shell casings, broken trees.

'With timec, it'll be like this never happened for this clearing, and in a few months, maybe a year, nature will forget this, cover it up…... but not for us.' Ruby thought to herself. She knew she would never forget this place. What it had almost cost her. By no means her first near death experience, but easily the nearest she had gotten.

"Long time, no see," Yang said, interrupting Ruby's sobering thoughts as she pushed passed her sister, hugging Pyrrha and Nora, who reciprocated warmly. Ren had also moved closer, but remained quiet. He did however, give each of them a small smile and an, "it's good to see you in one piece."

Ruby followed Yang's lead, hugging her friends as weakness began to creep into her body. Weiss, like Ren, stood a bit away from the others. She couldn't smile, or frown. Her muscles were so drained it was all she could do just to stay on her feet. However, she did manage nod of acknowledgment as she leaned against a tree. Blake hugged them all when Ruby was finished and said "it's good to see you, but why are you away from the front lines? And how did you know where to find us?"

Pyrrha responded, speaking for the first time. "When Yang called ahead and mentioned you were coming this way, we decided to try to meet you en route. We had a small campsite a couple of miles down the way. But then we heard the shots, and rushed here as quickly as we could. Looks like it was just in time, too. It is a good thing you guy's put on such a show whenever you fight. It's a lot easier to see things that explode." 

Ruby nodded, feeling both the physical and emotional drain from the battle telling her to sleep. For a moment, her legs gave out, but she caught herself mid fall and lifted herself up. To block out the voice calling for rest, she asked "where's Jaune?" 

"He's still on the front lines. Kinda hard to get away when your the general of an army" Nora said, flicking a piece of Grimm fur from her shoulder. Her skin was flushed from the exertion of the fight, and the look behind her eye was almost fevered. Nora had always been a little too happy to kill and break things, Ruby thought wryly.

Ren nodded, saying "we will take you to him. He'll be glad to see you."

Then Weiss noticed the glinting gold band on Pyrrha's finger.

"He proposed?" Weiss gasped, breaking out into a wide smile that hurt her whole body.

"Oh my gods that's amazing I'm so happy for you!" Yang bubbled hugging Pyrrha again.  
Pyrrha nodded and returned Yang's embrace, a happy, but restricted, smile spreading across her face. "I'm as surprised as you are. I thought I was going to have to do it."  
Ruby picked up on the tone in her voice, a strange tension that was unlike Pyrrha. "Is something wrong?" she asked.  
Pyrrha responded unhappily.  
"It's a little hard to explain. You'll have to see for yourself."

The mood turned somber as the newcomers took in the sight of team RWBY. Their clothes were heavily torn and patched, streaks of blood from gods knew how many sources splattered across them and their meager belongings. As Yang came down from her adrenal and rage high, she began to limp, an injury to her left leg from a fight they had previously survived hindering her. She looked down at the bandage over the cut. The off white color of the dirty bandage was being tinted red. "damn it." she thought, checking the wound. As she suspected, it had reopened during the fight.

Ruby had numerous smaller bandages covering rips and slashes in her clothing. Much of the cloth was stitched, restitched, or patched. Several of the stitches looked like they where the only thing holding the outfit together. Her corset appeared to be the only piece that was fully intact.

It was obvious they had been on the road for a long while, too long. Even Weiss's usually perfect getup was crisscrossed with all manner of gore, and ripped in several places, and Blake was dressed in clothes that looked like they had been scavenged, leather pants and a fur lined top to keep her warm. Surprisingly she still had her white and black button jacket, clashing with the darker colors of her salvaged clothes.

In a way, they actually looked quite... Noble, Pyrrha thought. They looked like they had actually been fighting the war, unlike many of the soldiers in the 'posh' positions, protecting the important people. They looked like hell, but were still standing, something many hunters and many more soldiers could no longer say.

After a few more moment's exchanging small talk and pleasantries, Pyrrha said, "let's head back and get out of the cold. we're still about 10 miles from the main complex, but we can stop at our camp if you guy's don't think you can make it all the way there."

The women contemplated amongst themselves, then Ruby said, "we'll push on to the main camp, better than staying out here in the cold or waiting till tomorrow." 

"Alright, well, then we better get going." Nora said, leading the way with a confident trot. The wintery setting hadn't changed much about Nora, who braced the cold with only a light jacket and some loose pants, her usual white, pink, and blue. Ren was more sensible, walking behind her in a long, coat that covered his arms and went down to his knees, looking thin but comfortable. Pyrrha wore light armor on the exterior of a familiar looking hoodie, and some functional and warm looking military pants. 

It had been only two years since their graduation and departure from Beacon. Upon graduating, unlike many groups, RWBY and JNPR had chosen to stay together, splitting the money from jobs and living relatively close together in one town or other. A downside to the Hunter's life was constant moving throughout the world, following each job as it came by and taking each check based on how well you did your job. Several times they had gone hungry or slept around campfires because of bad or lost payouts. But there were plenty of times where they were fed and happy. Ruby had no regrets. At least not back then.

Since her uncle Qrow was a huntsman, he shared their current life style, and during those rare occasions when they met on the road or on a job, he had that silent understanding that a lot of the older hunter's had. Hunting was a fiercely competitive business, with other hunters often trying to move in on jobs and bounties and taking the prize at the end. High paying contracts usually offered very open participation, leading to reduced rewards and competition in many of those situations. And those that made a name for themselves never lacked for work or rewards. Before losing contact with Qrow, he had been in Haven, helping to stem the flow of Grimm in an evacuating red zone.

Things had changed, a year ago. It all started with a group of religious oddballs taking over a publication and advertisement office, and began pumping out commercials, posters, and fliers all saying that, in two months there would be an assault on a town on the boarder of the Vale kingdom, a small settlement called Frontier. Most wrote the individuals off as odd balls with money, looking for attention. A police investigation occurred, checking out both the group and the town, but found nothing suspicious.

After a time, a single individual became the groups spokesman, a younger man in his mid twenties, who gave compelling, yet ridiculous, speeches about what his followers and himself refereed to as the Fall of Man. He himself took the name of the Grimm Disciple, and his followers demonstrated fierce loyalty to him. As time went on it seamed like their numbers swelled immensely, with a number of chapters of his brotherhood appearing in other cities and countries, preaching about similar attacks in different places.

With the deadline approaching, team RWBY had decided to visit the town, if only to dispel the rumors, along with JNPR and several other hunter teams, all along mostly for the entertainment of seeing the group's words proven hollow. Ruby vowed never to forget the trip. They had taken their time, laughing, traveling in a small caravan by foot. They ran into smaller concentrations of Grimm here and there but dispatched them easily, laughing and joking and in general just messing around.

All that had been blasted to pieces when they came in sight of the town. They could hear the screams and gunshots from more than a mile away, and that last, invisible mile was the fastest passing mile Ruby could remember. The groups mirth was replaced with horror and fear, and they went from their easy pacing to sprinting as fast as they could. Ruby found the town first, the others arriving after her, to find her frozen atop a crested hill, looking down on a seen of blood and death.

The town, like so many wild towns, was small, only a few hundred people, raising up to build housing and live their own lives, away from the larger city states. Talk came that eventually it would be a grand city but to start it was merely a convergence point of outlying farms into a small trade town of smiths, mills, and other border town charms. Now it was nearly in ruins. The buildings that once stood, simply but proudly, were blasted to rubble by a convergence of Grimm unlike any the hunters had seen. Nevermores rained feathers down on the town in black, steel strength torrents. On the ground, Goliaths stood high above smaller Grimms, thrashing about and smashing walls, houses, businesses, and everything else. The smaller Grimm sought to kill and maim, and the citizens of the town were nearly all dead already.

But the most shocking part was that the Grimms had riders, saddles, even man-made augmentations to their natural armor. Several of the larger Grimm had turrets, cannons, and other large weapons attached to them, adding to their destructive power. And over the entire scene flew a massive Grimm, a Night Terror, a dragon shaped Grimm, four powerful legs, two vast wings, sheets of utter blackness. A head that was both regal and terrifying sitting at the end of a lengthy neck.

And on a makeshift saddle on it's back sat the Young man, the Grimm Disciple, gazing down on the havoc below. Ruby swore he looked directly at her when she arrived, holding her gaze for a long time. Then the other hunter's arrived, and he, along with his massive monster, fled, leaving the hunters to try and save the town.

The newly arrived hunters were joined by a small military force, and what was left of the defenders from the town as they tried to push back the onslaught. By the end, however, heavy losses and injuries forced the defenders to abandon the town all together and run. Of the group that had tried to defend, including the towns original 750 person population, 500 trained soldiers with supplements from combat robots, and 25 assorted hunters, only 127 citizens survived, alongside 53 soldiers, and 18 hunters. All but one of the hunter deaths had been from a local hunter group, with one from the group Ruby and her friends had arrived with, a woman she had never met before but who had been extremely friendly and funny.

About 10 people had been apprehended, soldiers of the enemy, but all ten had been killed in one way or another before any questioning could be done. The military later sent reinforcements to try and take the town back, but found the ruins almost empty, with only a few minor Grimm remaining to harass their now sizable attacking force.

Reports of similar attacks rang out across the globe, even in Atlas and Menagerie, and many more places. Cries for assistance came from everywhere with a radio or some sort of signal, but always too late. People began evacuating en-mass to the large city states within the Kingdoms. Menagerie itself was completely abandoned, survivors pushing out by boat to Vale and Mistral.

Now, definitive front lines existed all over the world, the kingdoms closing their walls and protecting their Cities as best they could, while their armies, and the hunters within each kingdom, entrenched themselves in places where they could get the best of the terrain, and fight the enemy.

The religious cult revealed themselves fully. Factions of the cult had been buried deep in every continent, in every kingdom, in many, many towns and villages. They were armed, having both weapons and vehicles of war, built on the dime of companies and supports who held positions of wealth and power. World leaders who were once thought to be trusted now showed their positions as supports of the Children's war machine, a cancer that had grown under the skin of society.

Before world communications had become spotty and unreliable, a mass message had gone out from the children, claiming that their society had been developed over two hundred years prior. They had spent the decades strategically placing individuals in line for positions of power, and organizing the deaths of many. They funneled money, time, equipment, and people into building and hiding a vast army. They claimed the army was even larger than anyone knew, and that their leader, the Grimm Disciple, had control over the creatures, and that it was by his god's bidding that they destroy humanity, and let the Grimm flourish.

At least part of what they claimed must have been true, as the children had tanks, airships, and weapons plenty, though from all accounts the vehicles of war were outdated, and plenty of them were makeshift, civilian armored vehicles and mechanical loaders armed for war by wielding on weapons and turrets. Not enough, perhaps, to take on the united armies of the world, but the Grimm they supplemented their forces with were augmented, mountable, and extremely deadly.

Now, the world was involved in a drawn out war campaign, as the armies tried desperately to take on and root out the Children's bases while fighting off a never ending stream of monsters and creatures, many they had never seen before. Many ancient, thought to be extinct species of Grimm had risen to join the fight, some giant and very powerful.

About six months prior to team RWBY leaving on their nearly disastrous trip, an ambush had occurred on one of the military leader convoys, as they traveled between bases. Team JNPR had been present, along with a platoon of soldiers. Pyrrha had described the battle, a clash between soldiers in vehicles or on horseback and creatures of Grimm ridden by fanatics, firing weapons wildly and seeking to destroy everything. Pyrrha had lost sight of her team in the battle, only knowing they were alive by listening for their distinct traits, Jaune's cries of exertion and rage, Nora's explosions and gleeful laughter, and Ren's distinct sounding pistols.

The Children had fought to every last man, forcing the defenders to kill them all to survive, taking significant losses in the process as they fought their own horde of enemies. During the fighting, the general was mortally wounded, and Jaune, who had been protecting him, was given his rank and position with the man's dying breath.

Jaune had taken the role reluctantly. He and the general had been at constant odds during the campaign. His team had been drafted into the service position to help, along with hundreds of other hunters and teams. Unlike the others, however, his team had been pulled from active service to serve as bodyguards and 'consultants', to the general, an old war relic of a man, almost 70 years old if he was a day.

He had a radically different view of how his troops needed to be commanded, and how his army should be organized, but the general made fervent point to argue with and bash Jaune and his ideas at every opportunity. Pyrrha, during a conversation that seemed years in the past now, recounted how it was rare for Jaune or the general to be doing anything other than argue with each other and sleep. The general's ideas were far spread, far too spread for the troops he had and the people he wanted too protect, stretching the forces under his command across a huge grid.

The result was a patchwork of disorganized troops spread across every farm or town in the area, many ripe for attack, looting, and destruction, and many of them fell victim to just that. As moral was on the decline, the fights between the general and Jaune came to a head, and Pyrrha had described, with some pride, a moment when Jaune had struck the general, punching him in the face. He had left, and the general had the sense not to send people after him. The next day, the general had made an announcement that he would be taking his personal guards and a platoon of soldiers to another town to see, as he put it, "the might of our forces on the front lines." in other words, looking for assurance that he was right and Jaune was wrong.

Then came the slaughter, the death, and Jaune's immediate induction and promotion into and through the military ranks. The next thing Jaune knew, he had thousands of people he was responsible for, not just his friends. He had directors and people looking for orders and more.

Jaune's first order was to pull all remaining forces back and regroup. For a couple of months, the army did little but make dangerous journeys, pulling civilians, supplies, vehicles, and anything they could load up together into a cohesive whole. Attacks were common and death was often. RWBY had been out of contact with JNPR the entire time, they themselves working hard to protect Vale and help consolidate supplies and people, clearing and re-clearing farms and working to keep supplies coming into and out of Vale. It wasn't until after Jaune's decisions had born fruit that they heard from JNPR again.

Jaune had pulled all his forces and all the civilians that would come with him into a single massive group, a dangerous gamble that exposed his forces for a period of time. There were plenty that stayed behind, and several that died making the trip, however, by the end, Jaune had enough troops and people to take a major city, which he did, a small city named Fieldview, a business town located in a nook with high, impassible mountains to the south, providing excellent protection.

He set his soldiers and civilians to work, looting the town of food and water, and working to get power, plumbing, and sustenance going. It was rough, and the work was plagued with incidents and attacks, but within a few months he had turned the town into a working stronghold. High walls had been built around the town before he had taken it, and now those walls were reinforced with metal, turrets, and spotters. By the end of the operation, far fewer casualties than expected had occurred, and he had even managed to get communications with some of the other military leaders in Vale territory.

His work earned him no reprieve, however, as he immediately began directing special operations with the intent of rooting out the local chapter of the children, a never ending battle of chess to see if he could find them before they killed him and his people.

Pyrrha and Nora spent the walk through the woods talking about this, and explaining what they were doing now, about missions they had gone on and happy finds they had made. Many nearby towns still stood in ruins, and the soldiers and hunters present in Fieldview were often sent on missions to loot the towns of useful supplies, or scout promising areas to set up field bases, camps, and more.

After a few hours of trudging through the snow, weariness tugging at RWBY's bones and begging them to sleep, the two teams reached the outskirts of the town, where the woods ended. Night had long since fallen, and the shattered moon lit the snow-blanketed landscape. Ruby stopped for a moment to take in the sight. For a space of 400 yards there was just grass and snow. Then it ran up to a massive wall, towering over the landscape. Beyond that could be seen buildings, barely taller than the wall itself. And back-dropping it all was an even more massive monolith, a mountain taller than three sky scrappers and as wide as one. Mount Oranth, the second tallest mountain in the territory, and one of the largest mountains in the world.

Fieldview had been built with the mountain to it's back, around a clean water lake at the foot of the mountain. The wall surrounding the town lead to shear cliff faces that traveled most of the way up the mountain, and a waterfall fell down the cliffs, carrying fish and sediment to the lake below, which then flowed out into two rivers, one that exited the town to the east, the other to the west.

The town had been constructed around this natural formation for a variety of reasons, one being the abundant power to be gained from the currents of the rivers, which flowed strong and swift, spinning water wheels that fed kinetic energy into power generators, supplementing other kinds of energy gains. The mountain also provided a natural barrier for ground based Grimm, a solid wall of hard stone a mile high. The water also provided easy access to fresh drinking water, once it was properly filtered, and food from the fish that bred in the lake.

Team RWBY vaguely recalled the brief history they had been given of the town before setting out, but it didn't matter to them in the least. Now they looked up at the mountain and the wall with something approaching an exhausted fixation. Despite all they had seen, even similar sights to this, something so large and vast, to their weary minds, seamed impossible. Closer observation proved sobering, however.

The wall surrounding the town was clearly worn. In several places the wall was cracked and showed signs of repairs, and parts of it were blackened by fire and pitted and scratched with large claw marks. One segment was still under significant repair, basically just a collection of concrete bits glued together with resin and cement where a hole had been blasted in the wall. The walls were 250 yards high, topped with small raised segments containing cannons, artillery, AA guns, and numerous automated and manual weapons systems. They couldn't see much of the town from outside the walls, and followed Ren, who lead the way, towards the wall at an angle. By now, the snow had stopped falling, though the temperature was still very low.

They walked along the curve of the wall, and Yang and Blake couldn't help but to marvel at the stretch of plains away from the town. It was just…. Empty, for many miles. Blake's mind wandered as she looked over it, thinking of the vastness of the world and how little she had seen, even in her extensive travel as a huntress and a member of the White Fang. She had never seen this endless field, never walked these plains, on any of the sides. Despite everything that just happened, she felt a sort of calm settle over her. She caught Yang's eye and smiled at her.

Yang smiled back as she contemplated just how large the plains were. Roads crisscrossed it's vast decoration, some ancient cobble stones, some simple dirt paths, and a rare few asphalt roads. She could see what she imagined might be the tops of buildings in the distance, the bones of what might be a town.

Weiss walked a bit behind the others. Unlike her friends, her mind wasn't on sleep, where they were going, or what was around her. Her mind, like her eyes, was fixed on a red cloak, dark from melted snow, hair askew on the back of a head. Her footprints were familiar to Weiss, having seen them so many times before. The sway of her body, hidden by the cloak, was equally known to her. The images of Ruby were engraved in her mind from the last 6 years they had spent together. Her eyes never wavered from where she was looking.

Ruby, unlike the others, felt nothing but exhaustion and drain. The high of seeing her friends again and surviving had faded. Invasive, terrible thoughts began to slide through her mind, about everything that could have gone wrong, who she could have lost. How it all would have been her fault. She hadn't picked the way to go, but she had supported it. After all it was the shortest route to where they were going, it only made sense, right?

They had passed through ruins and fields and forests with only a modicum of difficulty, snipping at each other now and then due to some of the hard travel and mild irritation, but for the most part had been safe, happy, and even content. Laughing, joking, playing games, even a random prank here and there throughout the trip. Then things started to get difficult. The Grimm they began to encounter were no longer in ones and twos, but dozens. Grimm majors and alphas began to be common fair, and fights were no longer avoidable. What was once easy travel became a steep incline of battle as they ran from as many fights as they finished.

Their first major loss was against a horde of Wyvern type Grimm they had never seen before, that had taken up occupation in the shell of a town. The Grimm had devastating elemental breath attacks from their main diet of dust crystals, which they gorged on daily from the caverns under the mining town. Here they had to flee, as their arrival lead the Grimm to set destruction on the ruins again. Fire, ice, and electricity had rained from the sky, and Ruby still wasn't sure how they had all escaped.

During their mad rush to get out, Yang had been thrown hard against a ruined wall, getting knocked unconscious and injuring her leg when a rusty metal spike cut her outer thigh. They had been forced to carry her out, and managed to escape from the ruins without inciting the Grimm to follow them. Yang's cut was nasty and clearly infected, and their walk became a mad rush to their next supply point, which was a small village inside a cave system, which had, for the time being, kept the village out of notice of Grimm.

Yang was, thankfully, treated before the infection could take hold, but the cut and the treatment cost them a week in the town, further slowing their progress. A trip that was supposed to only take a month was turned into three months, and at least half of that time was spent trying to fight and stay alive.

After a week, Yang and Weiss had insisted that they keep going, and Ruby had agreed reluctantly. After that, the months went from jovial and easy to terrifying and deadly. And that time was now etched into Ruby's being. She felt like a machine that had gone without oil and maintenance for too long… something was starting to crack, and she didn't know what would happen when it broke.

Ruby's thoughts and memories were interrupted when she nearly ran into Nora, who caught her with a look of concern when she stumbled. "You alright, girlfriend?"

Ruby gave a weak smile, a mask she wore well from years of practice. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just… really really tired. It's been a long trip."

Pyrrha said, "Well you'll be able to rest soon. We had some rooms made up for you in the hotel we've been using as HQ. Come on." Pyrrha gently helped Ruby get her feet again, and when it was clear she could walk on her own let go of her shoulder. The group resumed their trailing behind Ren, towards the opening in the wall.

The opening turned out to be the entrance to a vehicle tunnel. A massive metal door currently sat closed, blocking 4 lanes of what was probably once a very busy road. Low lights kept the tunnel relatively lit, allowing anyone inside it to see, for the most part. As they approached the door, Ren turned, leading them to a smaller metal door about the size of an emergency exit. It turned out to be the entrance to a service tunnel, which He lead them in and then through. The tunnel was a bit cramped with all of them in it but they managed to fit.

They came out of the service tunnel on the other side of the wall, into the city itself. In a way what they saw was breathtaking. The city had been sizable, almost as large as Mountain Glenn. It had also been ruthlessly attacked. Many of the outlying buildings had been brought down to nothing but their foundations. Pieces had been hauled away to reinforce the wall in many places. A collection of soldiers was walking around with sledge and jack hammers, breaking concrete into smaller pieces and loading them into trucks to move them. The buildings that were still standing formed a secondary wall inside the first wall, more pieces of buildings, metal, and junk forming a haphazard and lethal looking razor defense wall about 300 or so yards inside of the first perimeter.

The road into the town was still clear of rubble. Burned out or broken down cars could be seen to either side, many having been looted for all usable wiring, parts, and supplies. Many of the buildings that were still standing outside of the secondary wall could be seen being looted by soldiers and civilian work crews, wood, metal, food, water, and other bits and useful pieces being tossed out of windows or carried out in trolleys.

The secondary wall had an entrance that was more regulated than the exterior ones, a military checkpoint with multistory lookout towers to either side, turrets on every floor and snipers on the top. Workers could be seen moving about piles of junk and scrap that were in front of the checkpoint, dividing it up into specific trucks to move in to town. The soldiers at the gate were dressed in heavy armor and equipped with heavier guns. Ruby saw rocket and grenade launchers, on top of more normal assault rifles and shotguns.

When they entered the secondary wall, things began to look different. Most of the damaged buildings had been broken down to their foundations, like on the outside, but buildings that seamed mostly intact remained standing, so an odd forest of business and residential buildings stood among plots, many of which were being used as scrap collector spots. Where buildings once stood were now organized piles of scrap metal, parts, and assorted collected junk, with soldiers appearing sporadically through them, documenting or collecting bits and loading them onto trucks. Here, Ren stopped, leading the group over to truck that had just been unloaded.

Pyrrha waved down the truck driver. "Hey, can we get a ride to headquarters?"

The young man, probably no more than twenty, looked at them with wide eyes. "Y-yes, that is, Yes Ma'am!" saluting. He hopped in the drivers seat quickly, clearly excited. Pyrrha grimaced lightly and Ruby and Nora laughed. It seamed that no matter where Pyrrha went there was always people looking at her, amazed. 

Ruby and her friends clambered in, utterly exhausted, hungry, and far more than sore. Even Weiss didn't complain about the concrete dust and scrap metal bits that littered the floor. Ren and Nora helped them into the back, Yang leaning heavily due to her injured leg. Nora nodded at the injury. "Jaune can probably fix that for you when we get to headquarters."

"Yeah… that'd be great." Yang said wearily.

The truck started up with a grumble, sputtering a bit from poor or makeshift maintenance. When it finally turned over the truck pulled away from it's plot, loaded with the weary warriors, and beginning to drive towards the center of town. They had covered a fair bit of distance already, the night sky above glowing slightly. Blake didn't know what time it was, but she felt it was probably well after midnight. She was sitting in the back, and when she looked towards her team, she chuckled to herself a bit. Weiss was asleep, sprawled out leaning next to Yang, who was drooling with a smile on her face as she too slept.

The only ones not indulging their weariness yet were herself and, she noticed, Ruby. Ruby was white-knuckling a piece of scrap metal, hands shaking. In fact, to Blake it appeared her entire body was trembling. Moving closer, she laid a hand on Ruby's shoulder. She snatched it back when Ruby jumped hard.

Talking just loud enough to be heard over the truck, Blake asked, "Are you alright?" of course she already knew just by looking that Ruby was most definitely not alright, but she couldn't exactly confront her about that given their current situation.

Ruby looked her in the eye, and for a moment Blake saw nothing, just an emptiness, within her friend. Her eyes showed nothing, no emotion, no weariness. It was like she was dead. Then suddenly they were back, Ruby shaking her head and saying, "I'm fine. Just tired, cold, and hungry." she smiled weakly.

Blake was taken aback. "No, you are-" she was cut off when the truck screeched to a stop, shaking her team mates out of their sleep and jolting her. Yang sat up, shouted "waffles!" and then promptly fell forward onto the deck of the truck. Weiss was shoved to the side because of this, falling flat on the bench and then jumping up, smacking her head against the top of the truck.

For a moment, there was silence, then a high laugh erupted from Ruby. It was such a sudden sound that Blake and Weiss jumped, a shot in the dark. Ruby was defiantly shaking, but she now it was because she was laughing, hard, shaking in her seat as her laughter rose in sound till it was almost hysterical. Weither because her laugh was infectious, or because they were all exhausted, the others began laughing as well, the sound of it echoing in the back of the truck. Other sounds could be heard, but they were drowned out by the women and their jubilation.

Weiss tried to look indignant, but in her weariness, even she couldn't help herself, and joined in. Ruby laughed, despite how she helped. It spread through her against her will, reaching into her depths and drawing the sound out of her. It hurt, more so every second as her lungs gasped for air and her stomach turned. Yet, against everything, she kept laughing.

After some time, the laughter began to die down, the gawfs and laughter becoming controlled chuckles. Ruby felt burning on her face, and reached up, wiping cold tears from her cheeks. For a moment, she fixated on a whole tear, resting in almost a perfect sphere on her palm. A silvery reflection flashed through it, and Ruby's eyes lifted. Slowly, the emptiness crawled back inside of her, her fixation shifting from the liquid glass of the tear to the harder, porcelain figure who was herself fighting back laughter and tears. 'Such a cold thing, love.' Ruby had time to think to herself, before a bubbly voice made her jump.

Nora appeared around the side of the truck, looking at them oddly. "What's so funny? Awwww…. Did I miss something good?" Pyrrha and Ren appeared from the direction of the cab after her, just as Yang replied with something nearing a shout, "Waffles!" and began to laugh hysterically. The rest of her team, even Ruby, couldn't help it and began laughing again, this time Nora joining in as if waffles was all she needed to hear, laughing louder than any of the others.

Ren and Pyrrha looked confused, but smiled all the same. The laughter died down slowly, with Ruby again being the first to stop. Weiss was second giving up out of sheepish exhaustion as she gasped for air. Yang never really stopped laughing, nor did Nora, but the two of them did die down to sporadic chuckles instead.

Pyrrha and Ren helped the girls out of the back of the truck, and they got their first good look at where they were.. the truck had stopped in what was probably the town square. Reasonably sized buildings bordered the square on three sides, two three stories and one four story that looked like a mayors office or a town hall, or probably both. On the fourth side was a building at 8 stories tall, the tallest building they had seen (that was still in one piece) since they had entered the town. While it wasn't the most central building, by Ruby's estimates, it was the highest building with the best view, and had been effectively fortress-ized.

The bottom two floors were obscured by a cinder block wall that went all the way around the building. An opening revealed what appeared to be a grand entrance to the building, 12 feet from the wall, but also a layer of hescos inside of the outer wall, cube shaped containers that were filled with sand, rocks, and anything heavy enough to add significant weight and support. Inside of that was another cinder block wall. A metal walkway lined with concertina wire marked the top of the wall, with soldiers patrolling the walkway, armed with DMRs and assault rifles.

The buildings to either side and directly behind the large building had all been demolished, giving unrestricted views of the surrounding area. Here seamed to be the largest concentration of soldiers, which made sense. The town square had a sizable park in the middle, which had tents spread throughout it. Grunts marched or jogged around giving abstract cadences as they marched.

Unlike the outer section of the city, and indeed the several mile drive leading into the heart of the city, there were no civilians here that Ruby or the others could see, but she did notice about a dozen other hunters around, some in military uniforms but others in their own obvious flair, setting them apart from those around them. A group of faunus were playing what looked like a game of tag, except they were all blind folded. Blake recognized it as a sense-training exercise, meant to utilize some faunus's abilities for sixth senses, enhanced smell, and exceptional hearing.

In one of the openings to the west of the main building, Ruby noticed a massive man made hole in the ground, with a crossbeam design of concrete walls in the middle, dividing the circle into sections. In one of the sections she could see, just barely from her position, the tops of trees. Leaning over towards Pyrrha, she asked "what's that over there?"

"Its a combat arena that we use to run the soldiers through training drills in different settings. it's divided up into 4 segments, each with a unique biome. Off duty hunters will occasionally use it to spar as well. Here, come on we should head inside. You guys need rest, and Jaune wanted to see you before you all went to bed."

Ren again began to lead the way, through the opening in the wall towards the building. When they were inside the wall, they noticed a sign above the entryway, faded and damaged. It read:

Hea h w Vond ue H tel

the Heathrow Vondrue Hotel was a popular spot in the town, especially for hunters. It had provided top of the line commodities for those who had the money, with 160 guest rooms, a penthouse suite, and a gourmet kitchen. At least back when it was functional. Still, even with the scuffs and minor damage to the outside of the hotel, it still looked immensely comforting, compared to where they usually spent sleeping, out on the ground, or in holes, sewers, ruins, or caves.

As the door opened, they were greeted with a blast of warm, dry air, enough to reveal to the girls just how cold they were. The last weeks of snow and cold had numbed them to their condition. Even the nightly fires only barely warmed them. This sudden blast seemed to revitalize whatever part of them was supposed to tell them they were cold, and suddenly all four of them started shaking uncontrollably, feeling like their insides were ice.

The group pushed inside, trying to get warm, and nearly got run over by a trolley laden with stacks of papers and boxes, which swerved to avoid them and didn't even bother to stop. The young man pushing it shot them a look, but didn't seem to have the time to stop and yell at them as he pushed onward. They were standing in some form of atrium, a two story opening in the main lobby of the building. Where there may once have been furniture and rugs, and even a front desk, now stood crammed together many desks, all of them covered in paper, typewriters, and computers, and each with an aid or administrator typing furiously at them. While outside it looked like an army, here it looked like an office building.

Pyrrha lead them through the disaster area towards an elevator to one side. Over the noise of their surroundings, Ruby called to Pyrrha "where are you guys getting your power from? The rivers can't power the whole city."

"They don't," she called back, "but they do provide a lot of our power overall. This place is running at a greatly reduced efficiency than the original town. But we have plenty of generators, and a lot of them are self sustaining. We have a lot of solar, wind, and water power being fed into the city's power grid, and we get everything else from gas and dust generators. Most of the time though we keep those turned off to conserve the resources. There are you-don't-want-to-know how many forms just to turn one on for 30 minutes."

When they reached the elevator, Nora hit the button, and it opened smoothly. Despite the size of their group, they fit inside the elevator comfortably, thanks to it's large size, and Pyrrha hit the button for the penthouse. Even though it was only 8 floors up, the ride felt long and awkward to Ruby. Yang chatted about nothing serious with Nora, while Weiss and Ren had each claimed their own personal corner. This left Blake, Ruby, and Pyrrha as the odd men out in the middle of the elevator.

After a few semi tense moments the elevator dinged open on the top floor of the building. Ahead of them was a short hallway, with two human guards, two faunus guards, and two combat robots, one of each to either side of the hall. While the gesture appeared to be meant to show the might of the military, the length of the hallway and the lack of cover for the guards made Ruby think it would be rather easy to take them out if necessary. 'not that I would even need to kill them. At this distance I could rush past them and through the door before they have a chance to react to the elevator opening. Not that I would...' she thought, smiling grimly inside at her dark thoughts.

Pyrrha lead the way here, nodding to the guards. The last one on the left grunted slightly, acknowledging them, then turned and scanned a small card against a panel to the left of the door. A beep from behind Ruby made her turn around. Two descending precision turrets she hadn't noticed upon her arrival retracted into the ceiling.

'More danger to them than me. If I didn't know about them they could probably bring me down, but since I do know about them now, I would just need to use the guards for cover, grab the card and scan it before they could take me down, then slip inside and cover the door with Rose...' Ruby was somewhat thrilled by the thought of the challenge it would take to get past the guards, but she also knew it was unlikely she would need to. Still, she made a note to practice her mental game any time she had to come up here.

After a few moments, a buzz was heard and the door opened, allowing the group to pass inside. The room they entered had been cleared of all living furniture. A dust generator was set up in the center of the room, under a holographic battle map, with cables and hoses trailing out from the generator to all manner of high tech equipment. A dozen people moved around the room, and around the holo-map stood three individuals. In each of the four corners of the room stood a robotic guard, and panels in the ceiling revealed where, if necessary, hanging turrets could be deployed. Ruby's admiration of the weaponization of the room was interrupted by an angry, frustrated shout.

"We know where they were, and we know where they might go, but we have no idea where they are RIGHT NOW!"

Jaune growled in frustration, slamming a fist down on the battle map that spread out before him. Ruby winced. She had never heard him that angry. The holo-map fizzled slightly as his hand passed through it to hit the generator beneath it, then solidifying. The men around him, all looking a little weathered from more than a few years of life, grumbled unintelligibly, unable to offer anything helpful, but feeling it was their duty to at least make some sort of sound.

Pyrrha cleared her throat, and the blond knight turned. Ruby gasped lightly. It had been a long time since she had seen Jaune, but he had barely changed at all. He was slightly taller, and definitely more muscled than before. He no longer looked scrawny. His hoodie was gone from beneath his armor, replaced with a gray and black military outfit that Ruby thought fit him well. 

Yet even with the similarities he felt like a very different person than she remembered.

"Hey guys. Been a while, huh?"

The uncertainty, usually front and center in his voice, had long since left, replaced with a mellow, soothing quality, which in turn was hedged by a sharp, defiant tone. His sword, Crocea Mors, was still belted to his waist, his armor unchanged even after so many years. Though he would never hold the same skill level as Pyrrha, he was also no longer helpless with his blade, and there was an assurance to his steps that cried of hours of training. 

"Yeah, it has,' Ruby said, stepping forward and hugging him. He was still a ways taller than she was, which miffed her a bit. Each of her team mates embraced him, even Weiss. "When we finally got contact with you guys back, you had already set up shop here. We figured we'd come and see how you're doing, and if we can lend a hand. We… uh, well, we almost didn't make it. If it wasn't for Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren, we might have died just a few miles away from you guys, to be perfectly honest."

"You guys would have found a way, I know it. We just lent a hand." Nora said nonchalantly.

"Yeah well, still, we're lucky to be here," Yang said, frowning slightly at her sister for bringing up the subject. "Anyway, how are you guys doing in this war?" she asked. She wasn't used to saying that word.

"About as well as can be expected. We haven't had an open conflict in months, but skirmishes are happening every week. We've set up about a dozen bases off sight, trying to keep an eye on things as best we can. On the upside this city had an air field, which we managed to fill up with our remaining aircraft and some that we commandeered from towns around here. It isn't easy living on salvage but we've been making do. A few weeks after we set up here there was a big fight. That breach in the wall? wasn't there when we moved in. We nearly lost it all…." Jaune was quiet for a moment, almost brooding. Then he smiled again.

"Where are my manners. Come on, we have some catching up to do."  
Jaune waved off his advisers, the men and women backing off and leaving the room. The security bots remained in their respective corners, looking like statues with red lights for faces. Each member in the room grabbed a chair, pulling them into a rough circle around a table Nora carried over single-handed. Jaune sat next to Pyrrha, and when she touched him, years seem to melt of him. He looked calmer, relaxed. He looked at her with a devotion so strong it hurt Ruby just to look at it.

Ruby couldn't help but feel a little jealousy and pain mix with her happiness for the two and how they felt about each other. Her thoughts turned hard towards her own inner turmoil about her current relationship with... the harder she tried not to think about it the more it wormed it's way into her mind. 

A ragged hole had been torn in her chest by her own feelings, her heart carved out and handed unfairly to a certain tsundere that was less than 4 feet away. Her fantasies often used the word princess instead of heiress, but the same feelings couldn't be ignored. She blushed scarlet as one of her more vivid imaginings invaded her mind. Yang noticed, but kept her peace, striking up an animated discussion with Nora.

"So, what's going on in your life, Nora?"

Nora, ignorant for the moment about what Ruby was struggling with, gave a chuckle, saying "well, shortly after we left school, I manged to convince a certain someone that I wasn't following him around for fun. We all know he can't take a hint to save his life, and..." she continued on, her bubbling about finally getting Ren to notice how she felt about him (she said she had locked the two of them in a room for 4 hours before he figured it out. Yang thought she was joking until she saw the somewhat sour look spread over Ren's face,) enough to capture Blake's attention.

Blake listened to Nora's ramblings, which had somehow wondered into a new modification she had made to her hammer, Magnhild, which allowed it to rapid fire it's grenades, allowing her to shoot faster than before without resorting to an all-for-one styled attack. Apparently, it had been Ren's idea, and Nora had convinced him to make a slight modification of his own. His Storm Flowers could now collapse, and transform into twin knives. Though it wasn't anything overly outstanding, it was huge that she had managed to get him to do anything to his precious weapons.

Blake was envious. She had had a pretty huge crush on Yang for the better part of the last year. She had never been an expert on relationships, and the few she had had were worse train wrecks than just about anything she had ever heard of. She shuddered as she thought briefly about how it had ended with Ilia, and drifted further from the conversation as her mind went unconsciously to Adam.

Her teacher, her friend (she had thought), and her (briefly) boy friend. The relationship had been more for convenience than anything. They had both had their lonely insides, their hollowness. They had tried to fill it with a meaningless relationship. Plus….. well, he had been compelling, fiery, in his own right. Before she really understood him, that is. She had left before anything... physical, had happened with Adam, and afterwords… well, afterwords, her world changed.

Jaune had started talking to Ruby, saying "I was thinking that when all this is finally over, we can all get together for a real reunion. It's been so long since we've had anytime to really catch up. What have you been up to? We lost track of you when you were headed for quadrant 7. What happened?" 

"We were heading after the Grimm that tore through Hevail. It led us into an ambush, and our bag that had most of our communication equipment in it was eaten. When we were on our way back, we found a working 2-way in what's left of Johnston. That's when Yang contacted you. We managed to corner the beast in a valley in the eastern corner of the quadrant. It took us 5 hours to bring the damn thing down."

Pyrrha asked, "what type of Grimm was it?"  
"Don't know. Never seen one quite like it. I think it was a Drakon type, you know, dragons without wings? But it was different than most. It was huge, for one thing, but it was really lightly armored. It seemed like it relied on speed over power. It had massive stamina. We only killed it because it finally tired out. That and Weiss managed to freeze 2 of it's legs." She giggled, then stopped, unnerved. 

The sound was slightly unnatural, and she was surprised that just mentioning Weiss was enough to draw such a reaction from her. Ruby thought she felt that little fracture in her machine widen a bit but chewed on her feelings for a moment, deciding it was probably just exhaustion that was driving her crazy. She glanced at Weiss sideways, unconsciously engraving the sight of her into her memory, her posture, her clothes, her skin... her face.

Pyrrha snapped her fingers at Ruby, trying to get her attention, but the sound came out louder than she meant it to. Everyone turned to look at her, then followed her gaze to Ruby, who sat, suddenly mortified that she was looking directly into Weiss's eyes. She stood abruptly, her hands clenching as she bared her teeth, trying to control her emotions. She said "is there a place where I can change? I'd like to put on my last clean outfit."

Jaune answered before anyone could ask what was wrong. She was surprised that he had picked up on her tone. He was obviously more mature than when they had first met. He said "out the door, turn left, take the elevator to the fifth floor. There is a communal bath on at the end of the hall, and you'll find some temporary clothing if you need it, towels, soap, and the rest of it. We had them prepped when you contacted us. After you get cleaned up you can pick whatever room you want on the floor for yourself."

Ruby nodded curtly, then turned and walked briskly from the room. Yang half stood in her seat, but Weiss held up a hand, saying "I'll go. She's been acting off for several weeks. As her partner, I think it's my responsibility to find out what's going on."

Yang nodded, retaking her seat. Weiss left the room, looking towards the elevators in time to see Ruby hitting one of the buttons. Their eyes met, and Weiss stopped cold. There was an uncompromising look on her face, one that was filled with both unwavering hate and extensive pain. Weiss was frozen in place, a wave of irrational fear spreading through her body.

Then the door closed, and it was like Weiss was released from some sort of spell.

She could move again, but she didn't want to. She felt suddenly weak in the knees. But she knew if she didn't check on Ruby, she might not be able to. She walked slowly to the elevators, making

sure Ruby's was already at the fifth floor before calling one. She thought to herself 'what the hell is wrong with her now?' As she waited, her fear began to turn to anger and irritation as she considered what she had seen.

Not only was Ruby in some sort of pain, she was refusing to tell her team about it. She spent the whole elevator ride getting more and more frustrated. As the doors finally dinged open, she was seething. It never changed. Every time something happened to someone on the team, they refused to talk about it.

She stood at a T intersection, with a single door down a short hall, and two doors to either side of the hall in front of her. To the left and right, a hallway extended to an L shaped intersection at either end. She stormed to the door at the end of the hall, remembering Jaune's instructions, she stormed towards the room at the end of the hall, sure enough, she could hear water running from beyond it. She opened it, too angry to think about knocking. However, she immediately pulled back. The sight that greeted her was somewhere between terrifying and absolutely beautiful.

The room was fairly large, a public styled bath, with a wide pool in the center of the room. To the right of that was a line of individual tubs meant for personal baths. To the left were shower stalls, and to either side of the door were lockers for storing personal items. On the far side were hundreds of hygiene items, stocked carefully so they were all organized. Not that Weiss noticed any of this

Ruby stood in her underwear, bent slightly over a tub that was half filled with water, one finger testing the water, steam curling up and around her slim frame. Her skin was a creamy pale, not quite as light as Blake's or Weiss's, but nowhere near her older sister's light tan. Her skin was covered in cuts and bruises, quiet a few of them faded and old, a testament to their time on the road. With her back to Weiss, her chest was hidden. At Beacon they had shared a locker room and shower space. In fact nothing Weiss saw here was anything new to her.

Yet, despite having seen it before, something about the situation was sending a heavy blush towards Weiss's face. Ruby's body seamed… beautiful to her. But what froze her in place, what held her back and forced her to a stop was not her body. No, the thing that terrified her, shocked her even, was the look on Ruby's face. It was drawn back in a human interpretation of a wolf's snarl, her eyes alight with emotion, something that looked like rage.

After a moment, Ruby straightened, turning and walking slowly towards Weiss. Weiss had never been scared of Ruby before, but now she took an unsteady step back, iron bands closing around her chest as she tried to breathe, the fear seizing her mind, her body refusing to move correctly. Having closed the door behind her, she felt her back press hard against the cool metal door. Ruby was less than 2 steps away.

Weiss tried to apologize, saying "I'm sorr-mph!"

Ruby had thrust her lips hard against Weiss's, and she froze.

She had never expected this, not in a million years. She didn't know what to do. If it had been anyone else, she would have panicked or fought, but she found herself not wanting to fight Ruby off, not wanting to end it.

Ruby had one hand on the door, the other holding Weiss by the back of her neck. Weiss couldn't go anywhere, couldn't do anything. So she settled for nothing. Her body stayed limp as she felt her lips being pushed around, felt, a little less than timidly, by Ruby's. After a moment, Ruby pulled away, turning her back and just standing there. Unable to decide what to say, Weiss turned and left. If she had stayed only 2 seconds more, she would have seen the tears racing down Ruby's face.


	2. Bonding, and Other Wartime Thearters

Weiss leaned against the door that separated her from the room where everything had gone wrong. On the other side, she could hear water still running, no doubt Ruby cleaning herself as if nothing had happened. As if what had happened didn't matter. She slid to the floor against the door, shocked, stunned even, at what had happened. How could she? After all that had happened, after all the time that had passed, NOW Ruby moved on her? What the hell? What kind of sick torture was that? She could feel the hollowness in her chest returning, her feelings suddenly raw and fresh, like an open wound. She felt the brief heat of building tears just before they overflowed, her face still passive and calm despite her inner conflict. She tried to reason it to herself, that she had hallucinated, that it was just a dream or vision brought on by repressed emotions and lack of sleep. But she could still feel Ruby's perfect lips, pressing against her own. Soft, urgent, hungry... Weiss's breathing eased, her fingers touching her lips, as if trying to capture that feeling, to hold the sensation there a little longer. Thinking back to what had been an… exceptionally scary, yet undeniably alluring moment for her. Ruby had never looked more beautiful, and more terrifying, than in that moment. As Weiss sat, lamenting her feelings, she thought back to Beacon. 4 years stuck in a single bedroom with her partner and her friends. Sleeping under Ruby every night. At first Ruby had been nothing but an annoyance, a stupid kid that Weiss couldn't imagine could do anything right. She was so careless and free that Weiss even hated her a little. How could she get so good, how could she get to lead the team, WHY should she get to lead the team? Weiss had worked harder and longer than she could ever think Ruby would have, and was denied, first in finding what she thought would be a suitable partner, then in being denied to be the leader of her team. She had spent the first month fighting a massive internal conflict, of trying to listen to the wisdom of Professor Port, and think about why Ozpin had made that choice, and to be the best teammate for Ruby that she could be, but it constantly weighed on her in the beginning how she was passed over. Then, she had an idea. It must have been something about Ruby, something Weiss was missing, something she didn't see in her high and mighty state. So she had started watching Ruby, out of the corner of her eye, in classes, in training sessions and combat drills. She spent every waking moment watching Ruby's actions, looking for the secret to her success. Why she was chosen and what could possibly make her so special. She watched so much and so hard that, without meaning too she began to worry about Ruby, and notice things she would have missed otherwise. She could tell when Ruby hurt herself, or was feeling upset, or was overworking herself. She noticed when Ruby gave up sleep, or eating, or leisure time to train and study. Her goal in watching Ruby changed so suddenly that she didn't even remember why she started in the first place. Suddenly Ruby wasn't an object of observation. She watched her to make sure she was okay. She had started approaching Ruby, asking if she was alright, or if she needed help. Berating her for overworking herself and pushing her to make sure she got plenty of rest, or food, or water. In half a year her obsession, her need to be better than Ruby, had changed into an intense feeling of protectiveness, then affection, and eventually love. But, in all that time, she had no idea how to tell Ruby what she felt. Soon a year had passed, then two. Ruby grew more beautiful by the day. She had started dropping hints and gestures, trying to entice Ruby, but, in all her time training she hadn't spent a great deal of time thinking about relationships. Her hints, if she had the ability to observe them, were extremely vague and fumbling. Unfortunately, without that knowledge, and still a little full of herself, she didn't know that. She grew more and more frustrated as all attempts to sway Ruby seamed to be brushed off, till she began to think Ruby was ignoring her on purpose, her own way of telling Weiss that she wasn't interested. She had been so sure that Ruby hadn't shared her feelings that she went out of her way to try and pull some sort of reaction out of her partner. She started making sure she was naked or nearly so around Ruby when the opportunity presented itself, or asking Ruby to look at what were usually harmless scratches or bruises, so that she could show her skin or figure to Ruby. Unable to speak of her feelings and so used to people wanting her for her looks or money, for a time she went stir crazy, treating herself like she was some object, something that, when viewed fully or maybe from the right angle, would insight some sort of reaction. Ruby had always been kind in those moments, diligently making sure her partner was alright, or being sure to cover her eyes and offer some clothing or towels or blankets to her when she tried to show off her body. Sometimes Weiss would come out of the shower naked while Blake and Yang were out on their own, yet Ruby never seemed surprised, and her gaze, while it definitely grazed over Weiss's body, always turned away quickly. Weiss began to get extremely frustrated with Ruby, feeling like she would never get her attention. By their third year together, she had decided Ruby would just never love her back. She tried a few methods to dispense her depression regarding those thoughts, from training harder than she had before, to viciously dating different people throughout the school. Despite loving Ruby, she found she wasn't attracted to too many women. Only one or two of the partners she could remember were women, the rest an assortment of guys. Some were sweet, others were innocent. A couple were rough, gruff, and one was mute. The last had taught her some sign language while they were together. Of course, the simple fact that she had dated girls had made her a target of Cardin and his gang, along with a few other rich intolerant assholes. Weiss, thinking back, chewed the inside of her cheek, remembering how she used to be one of them, rich, sad, ignorant, and looking down on the world. That had changed long before their third year, and after dating the first girl, a quiet, but beautiful foreign exchange student, she was suddenly a target for all that ignorance. Cardin had by far been the worst. His size and sheer physical power made him brasher than the others, and overly sure of himself, though he clearly had a certain cunning that made him a good manipulator. He had verbally attacked her several times, and always seemed to be nearby when she was with her dates. Then, during one very bad day, he pushed her to her edge. Weiss was in the middle of a conversation, that is, she was breaking up with one of her partners. The partner had accepted them breaking up easily, as he was sweet and very empathetic. He had asked her if she still loved Ruby, and Weiss, unable to lie to him without breaking down, had told him the truth. Cardin had been hiding just out of sight. Weiss had no idea he was there, until he revealed himself, laughing like a jackal. The things he had said, what he had suggested… it was too much for Weiss. An explosion had rocked their segment of the school that day, so big and powerful it set the school on alert as if it was being attacked. No one was hurt, and Cardin had got away from her, but the rage she had felt in that moment… she had struck to hurt, and possibly to kill, that intrusive bastard. The school had apparently investigated the incident, and within a few hours the damage had been undone. If Ozpin or any of the others knew what had happened, no one said anything. A public announcement was that a dust canister had been improperly stored and ruptured, but Weiss doubted anyone bought that. Even still, the school had soon settled back down. And with that, Cardin had returned. He had almost, almost, managed to reveal her secret to the whole school. Weiss had found out he had printed hundreds of fliers, anonymously of course, with a picture of her and an extensive list of what she 'wanted', most of it extremely vulgar and all of it pointing towards Ruby. Weiss knew she couldn't afford to blow up as she had before. So she resorted to stealth and subterfuge. She burned all the fliers before they could be handed out, then went snooping in his team's room, which had involved knocking one of his teammates out and locking another one in the bathroom. Unfortunately for him, Weiss found out he was secretly a faunus fetishist. Under his bunk had been a steamer trunk filled with a lot of nasty things, most of it faunus related, and all of it pornographic. She photographed it, along with the trunk which, helpfully, had a 'property of' engraved on the inside with his full name on it. With a little help from her blackmail, he had backed off. Thankfully, after the incident a rumor began to circulate that she was responsible for the explosion, and for two students ending up in the school infirmary, which encouraged the rest of the dismal horde to leave her alone as well. Unfortunately, this lead to a decline in the number of partners she took on. Despite her many dates and partners, she had only experienced sex with three individuals. Two men, and one woman. She smiled bitterly as she recalled her brief fling with Nora, the 2 of them having been drunk enough not to know or care what exactly they were doing. Weiss didn't remember much of what had happened, just a lot of skin, some strange pleasure, and a lot of alcohol. Nora, either choosing to ignore it, or so drunk she had forgotten about it, avoided the subject on principle. It had been bittersweet, excellent, exhilarating, yet hollow. They had avoided each other for a few weeks after the incident, though eventually settled back into their normal friendship, forgetting about the incident and deciding just to move on. Yang had always weeded through her partners when she dumped them, nabbing the ones she wanted. There was probably a therapist in Vale making a lot of money off the lovers she and Yang had gone through. She grimaced as her thoughts turned to when her family had found out. Her father had called her back to the estate shortly after her graduation. He had said that, now that she was a huntress, she should be trying to protect the company, trying to find out who would take over beside her. She had misunderstood his meaning in the words, and had accidentally let slip her fixation on her partner, Ruby. Her father had gone into such a rage, she was almost afraid he would attack her. The man had always been a manipulative and cunning bastard. He had had the audacity to ORDER her to stay away from Ruby, to find a young, rich, and smart boy who would take over with her. Like her mother had done, he had the arrogance to say. Weiss, obviously, disagreed. In short, she had told her father where he could stick his thoughts, then stormed out. He had been so furious, so angry at her at the time, she had gone slightly paranoid afterwards. It was rather ridiculous that she would fear her father, but all the same, she had seen to many good people turned to monsters by fear or anger, and her father was pretty far from a good person. She spent as much time looking over her shoulder as she did looking at Ruby. Habits died hard, she supposed. Her father had cut her off, but by this time she didn't need his money. But at the same time, her goals had been warped. The company was the family legacy, and her father was running it more cut throat than anyone else before him. Weiss had literally fought her way back into the family estate not long after she left, with her sister Winter. What they had found was their father, half insane, and their brother, not much better off. Their father had suffered some sort of paranoid break down, and the company's board of directors had cut him out of control of the company, though as it was tied into the Schnee family, that cut hadn't severed the family's connection to the company. They had left their father too his madness, and their brother, his splitting image, caring for him. Weiss had met with the board of directors with her sister, and they agreed to sign his position over to them, under the clause that no other surviving member of the family was fit for such a duty. With that, Weiss had freed herself of 22 years of torment. She had implemented immediate and drastic reversals to the company, slowly putting it together piece to piece, and leaving Team RWBY for a few months as she did so. These actions had brought a great deal of world wide media attention towards herself and her sister. During this time she spent more time with her sister than at any other point, since they were kids. She had always been tough and hard on Weiss, though at times she relented and the two of them had warm fuzzy moments. However, during the rebuilding of the company, Winter had been… well, her sister. She remembered laughing with her as the went over plans, smiling at business occasions. Winter really shined at those places. She was always calm and precise. She knew exactly when to laugh at some businessman's joke, and which women to compliment on what. Weiss found herself enjoying their time together more than ever before. Then, word of the Disciple had spread. Weiss got a call from Yang about it after seeing it on the news. Despite the flippantry about it, Weiss had a gut feeling that something very wrong was happening. So, she had dawned her hunting attire, grabbed Myrtenaster, and set out to join her team, leaving Winter in charge of the company. The time apart from the company had distracted Weiss, and for a while she thought her heart had healed, and she may finally have forgotten about Ruby. But coming back to her team was hard on her. Her longing for Ruby came back hard and fast, especially seeing how much she had grown in their brief time apart. It seemed like loving anyone else was impossible. Life as a Huntsman or Huntress was too stressful, too long, to share with those who didn't live that lifestyle. And other hunters had their own lives, own missions. Unless she was willing to leave team RWBY to share those lives with them, it would never work. Over time she began to believe she'd simply live out her life in loneliness, and that the best she could do was support the ones she loved. But… But… Weiss stood, suddenly confident. 'This isn't a torture or torment… it's an offer!' Weiss thought to herself. She began to smile, wiping her eyes and drying her face. Ruby had kissed her, given her an opportunity. Weiss had been distracted by her shock and pain her mourning and memories, but… but it wasn't for nothing! Ruby had just given her an open invitation. She felt like She had been outside the door forever, though looking at her watch it had barely been 15 minutes. The sound of the water in the room had stopped, and Weiss, feeling her confidence mingle with a little bit of hope, reached for the doorknob to open the bathing room again. Fate, however, decided to intervene then. The sound of the elevator opening not far behind her distracted her. JNPR, Yang, and Blake stepped out of the elevator. The group seemed jovial, laughing and talking animatedly, much different than the first elevator ride. Yang had removed the dirty rag from her thigh, showing her injury had been healed thanks to Jaune's aura boost. They all looked quite happy, like in the old days. But Weiss felt her composure crumble. 'No, not now, not yet!' Yang took in the look on her devastated face, then opened her mouth to ask the one question Weiss knew she didn't want to hear. But before she could, Ruby shoved the door open, slipping past Weiss, her face hidden from her as she slipped into a room down the hall, the door slamming behind her. Weiss was abashed, trying to figure out what had gone so wrong so fast. Yang had clamped her mouth shut as she saw Ruby, but gave Weiss a hard look. Of course. Big Sis would automatically assume whatever was going on was Weiss's fault. She sighed to cover her own gloomy mood, then, regaining her composure before the others could read her face, she called to them, "I'm heading to bed too. If it's alright, Yang, would you share a room with me? I'd like to finish up the report for the last assignment, and I think there are still some papers that need your signature." Yang was already nodding, striding forward and latching on to Weiss's arm with a (some what) forgivable amount of force, steering her into a bedroom across the hall from Ruby's chosen room. As soon as the door was closed, she roughly shoved Weiss forward, saying "what the hell did you do? I've never seen her look that way before. What did you say to her? What happened?" Weiss straightened, trying her best to look indignant. A burst of adrenaline and the recent actions had bleed the weariness from her, if only temporarily. She held her head up, saying "I didn't do anything, not this time." "Then what happened?" "It's a long story….. or maybe it isn't, but the short of it is that your sister just... she... well, she kissed me." Yang was quiet for the moment, her face calming slightly. Weiss couldn't see any rage in her face. In fact, it looked almost bemused, fighting off a smirk. Much more calmly, Yang responded. "And what did you do?" "Nothing. I didn't know what to do. I mean, I used to be all over her, but she never reciprocated. Well, I thought I was over her. But then, then, when she kissed me, it all came rushing back. I wanted to do something, tell her how I felt kiss her back, anything, but it was so unexpected, so…. Out of no where... I couldn't do anything. So I sort of... left." "What do you mean, you left?" "I walked out of the room. I left." "And you didn't think it would HURT HER?! My Gods, Weiss, you've always been thick but even you should have had the foresight to do something!" Weiss flinched as Yang's voice shot straight up in pitch, the look of bemusement replaced by a deep anger, Her body beginning to glow. Weiss could see it building, the way it always did when she was either drunk, bordering on hysterics, or angry as hell. Weiss shook her head, trying to get a grip on the situation before Yang spontaneously combusted (again). "I tried to deal with it, to fix it, I swear! When you and the others came out of the elevator, you distracted me. I didn't have the time or the opportunity to fix things, especially after she ran off. Look… I…. Want her, I want to have a relationship with her, I want to fix this mistake but…. I don't know how. Can you help me? Please? Give me some advice or tell me what to do. Please?" She felt surprise inside as she begged, but she knew there was no one better to ask. Yang had the most experience out of all of them with relationships. She, like her sister, was bisexual, but unlike her sister, insisted that anyone she laid her eyes on, anyone that caught her fancy, was going to be her's, at least until the novelty wore off. She had been with more people than even she cared to admit. She had kept out of the immediate team for the most part, although there had been a small period of time that Weiss had seen her eyeing Blake, though with everything that had been happening at the time, she had probably been distracted from that avenue. Yang spent a moment continuing to glare at her friend, but her fiery aura had cooled at least. After a few moments of absolute hell for Weiss, Yang spoke up. She said "I'm not sure if you deserve my sister, but its obvious she wants you, and I'm not exactly here to get in her way. She's her own woman now, and has been for a while. Honestly, I wasn't lying when I said you were dense, Weiss. I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out. Shes been throwing you the same flags you tossed at her since before graduation. I'd say the both of you are exceedingly unobservant." Yang took a moment to pace the room, hands behind her head as she contemplated the possibilities. She had always been protective of her sister, considering herself the reckless one of the family, which had only gotten worse when she started taking hunter training. Ruby… well, she always thought her younger sister was a little too pure, a little too… innocent, for the hunter's lifestyle, though honestly she had taken to it like a natural. She, on the other hand…. Well, she hadn't Really been lying when she told Oobleck she was looking for excitement. She took easily to danger and fun, nightclubs, drinking, fighting. She had been in a couple underground boxing clubs, and had once stolen a car from a gangbanger, which had helped her find Junior, after she beat the guy blue and purple. After a few moments, Yang came to a decision. "Anyway, the only thing I can tell you is that Ruby is probably really torn up after your reaction. That's the reason she shut down like that. She did the same thing back in both Signal and Beacon when shit like this happens. Whenever you get to talking to her, be careful. Seriously. You've seen it, when she snaps it ain't pretty. Last thing we need is for you two to tear this place down. Also, don't do anything tonight. If you try to fix this now, all you'll do is fuck her up even more. She needs some time to cool off." Weiss nodded, wincing slightly. The downside to hunters is, conflict tended to lead to mass destruction. After a few moments remembering how her sister and Qrow had destroyed the main entrance to the school, she smiled slightly. Her high was wearing off and any second she could feel that she was about to pass out. "Thank you, Yang. Really. you've always been a good friend. Now, I need to go change, and then collapse." She took a look around the hotel room. It was pretty simple, two beds, a floor-ceiling window that looked out over the ruined city. A small kitchenette, and what looked like a bathroom. She decided to head in there to change, dropping her backpack and pulling out her night gown. Thanks to the plastic it was sealed in, it had escaped the wear of the elements, though the backpack itself and most of what was inside was soiled with dirt and muck. She entered the bathroom, but as she was about to close the door behind her, she heard Yang call out, "Weiss." Yang's voice was serious and intimidating. Not nearly as terrifying as Ruby had been, but none the less Weiss could practically taste danger in the air. "If you hurt my sister again…. you'll burn for it." Yang's eye's flashed that angry violet color that always made Weiss take a step back. Weiss swallowed hard at the threat, nodding hard. When she found her voice again, she said, "I understand." then closed the door. Yang waited till the door was closed, then broke out into a large smile. 'it's about time, little sis. You guys will work out just fine. After all, you're both fucking insane.' She turned to her own belongings, stripping out of her clothes and preparing for bed. ========================================================================= Ruby sat on the bed, her forehead pressed against her knees, her arms wrapped around her legs, hugging them to her chest. She felt so hollow inside, like someone had taken out more than her heart this time. She couldn't believe she had lost control like that, gotten so close to Weiss that way, after she had promised herself she wouldn't. And she had kissed Weiss! KISSED her! She flinched as she remembered the way Weiss had frozen when their lips touched. How could she have been so stupid! And now, it was far more than just the rejection. After her stunt, how could she ever face Weiss again? What was Weiss thinking? And what would she say when they saw each other again. And how could she deal with this... thing, inside her? What frustrated her more than anything was that this was an enemy she had no idea how to fight. It wasn't like some monster she could just kill and it would be over. It was a constant, deep ache of emptiness that sent horrible shivers through her body. She had loved Weiss for so long, since their second year at Beacon. She had always worried about Ruby, been so nice to her, encouraged her. At first ruby had just wanted to be her friend. And even though they had never officially said it, one day, they were friends. She didn't even remember when it was. It was just that suddenly, they were always around each other, always doing things. They lived in the same space, ate together, had classes, trained, and fought together. The feeling inside of her was always aching in her background. She thought she had come to terms with it, thought she was, if not over it at least able to deal with it. Weiss was always there, so in a way it had been okay. Then, just before the war started, Weiss had left to, as she put it, "Get the family business back." she and her sister had left, and Weiss had never told them what she did or what she saw. But for three months they were apart. And for those three months, Ruby was a mess. She woke up and went to sleep feeling that something major was missing. She had held off from telling Weiss how she felt for number of reasons. One of them was, as Team leader, she felt it was her duty to avoid having such relationships. She had heard and read enough stories that she believed that such relations were really cursed, and that in the end someone would get hurt. She would distract Weiss, or Weiss would distract her, or… something, something would go wrong. But the longer she had told herself that the more it started feeling like an excuse. She could feel some emotion other than self loath pushing at her insides, and after a moment, she recognized it. It was anger, but she couldn't figure out what it was directed at. It was the same emotion that had filled her when she had looked into Weiss's eyes, anger, and just the slightest need to put her fist through a wall. She had felt it again when Weiss had come into the bathroom. She felt some… burning anger, almost hatred, looking at Weiss these last few days. The fighting and the hunting and the running for their lives had distracted her enough that she barely noticed, but, without those distractions suddenly everything was bubbling up, consuming her from the inside. The sensations were so hard to ignore. They had pushed her to do…. Something to Weiss. She didn't know what exactly but she had fought it so hard, she felt pain inside. But she had kept herself from hurting Weiss. However, she wasn't sure if the alternative was much better. Now… Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the hotel room door. Grateful for the distraction, Ruby called out, "Come in." Blake entered the room, an oddly thoughtful expression on her face. She took in Ruby with her golden gaze, but it was distracted, like she wasn't sure exactly what she was seeing. She stood in the door for a moment, a bit blurry in the eyes from exhaustion, before coming in. She said, "Hey, can we talk? Its kind of important." Ruby managed to uncurl herself, nodding slightly. She could hold off on her own questions for now. After all, a good leader doesn't crack under pressure, and if her teammate needed her she would pull through. "Sure, come on, sit down and lets talk." Blake sat at the edge of the bed next to hers, composing herself before saying, "recently, I think I've come to realize something. It was back when we were attacked by those Beowulfs, and the realization that we could have died crossed my mind. I want to act on something, but I wanted to get your opinion... no, your permission, to do it." Now Ruby was curious, and a bit concerned. Blake didn't usually ramble, and she wasn't making eye contact with Ruby as she spoke. "What's this about Blake? You can ask me anything." Blake swallowed, nervous. Her face was reddening, and she seamed to be having trouble breathing. She said said "I would like your permission... and, if it's not to much to ask, your help... courting Yang." A complex swirl of emotions raged through Ruby when she heard those words. Anger, resentment, happiness, sadness, loneliness, and dozens of others flashed through her like some obscene movie reel. She wanted to laugh hysterical, rage, burn the hotel down and squeal for them to get married. She wanted to be a kid again, she wanted to forget Weiss… everything in her was conflicting so hard that, after a few moments her brain just paused. All her emotions shut down, till it was just the shell. She had to steady herself as she moved to the edge of her own bed. She felt her emotions, hidden behind a damn her mind had built to keep her safe, struggling to break free. While she still held her mild composure, she looked Blake in the eyes, and, speaking quietly, said, "go ahead, but I can't help you." She stood before Blake could react, sprinted from the room, from the place where the universe was mocking her. She didn't remember leaving the hotel, but when she was finally outside, she was surprised to find herself several blocks down the road. Her watch said it was after midnight, and it showed. The broken moon shined down, illuminating the city despite the late hour. The snow had, more or less, stopped falling, and the sky had only a couple scattered clouds. Looking up, she could see all the largest shards of the moon, and counted them. Her emotions had faded away a little. She began to imagine the major shards were her friends. The closest ones together were Pyrrha and Jaune, of course. A little away from them was Ren and Nora. Yang and Blake were pointed at each other, which she thought was fitting. She reached the end, where three fragments formed a cramped triangle. The one farthest from the other fragments she reserved for herself. One of the other's was Weiss, and the third… the third made her angry. She hatted that fragment with every ounce of that built up hatred she had built up over the last months. She half expected the fragment to blow up, with how much emotion she had. Yet it didn't. It sat there and defied her with every ounce of it's existence. Staring her in the face. She, lonely, socially awkward, bitter little Ruby, she was alone. Ruby had had very few relationships that had lasted longer than 3 months, and even fewer that had made it past the 'dating-friends' area. She remembered the fit Yang had had when she found out Ruby was no longer a virgin. They were still paying off their debt to that poor bar owner. Ruby had dated plenty, but to her, dating was simple. It was just hanging out with someone you liked a lot. Dating was easy. What was hard was the relationship part. Being around that person all the time. It felt awkward to her when it happened, and usually her partners ended up leaving her, and those that didn't she left. None of them felt right, none of them had fit. Over time, during their second year, she had begun to notice something. Weiss, who had been cold and hard during their first meeting, was being… nice. Considerate. She pushed Ruby to train harder, but also to relax, and to not be so hard on herself. She would help her study so it didn't take her so long, and encourage her to rest at night, instead of spending it staying up and studying. The whole year they spent almost inseparable. At times she noticed Weiss watching her from a distance. At the time she hadn't thought anything of it. Why should she? Weiss was her friend after all. Starting around their third year, strange things started happening. Weiss seemed to be naked around her a lot, and was even more caring and considerate to her, to the point where it almost seamed weird. Sweet, but weird. Still, they spent even more time than before together, and Ruby found herself falling in love with Weiss. But there was a big problem. Weiss was always flaunting some new lover about, as if she were trying to show the world that not only was she able to get almost anyone, she could do it in a flash. Ruby had tried several times to work up the courage to confront Weiss during those brief periods where she was without a lover. But each time she finally found her voice, Weiss had found another one. When they had left Beacon and made the promise to stay together, she had assumed things would get better, be easier. But they got even worse. Weiss was her usual self on missions, complaining, grouching about in an imitation of an Ursa that just came out of hibernation. Several times, when Ruby had finally gotten her alone, gotten the courage to say what she needed to, she made the mistake of looking into Weiss's eyes. They were often cold, skeptical, sometimes angry. Back at Beacon, they had an edge to them, but not like this. She thought 'They looked like mine must look now… everything is messed up..." Not once had they ever been as inviting as they had during their first 2 years at beacon. And she noticed that a gap seamed to form after they left, growing wider in their time in the wilds. Ruby had eventually given up. Or so she thought. Something about seeing Pyrrha and Jaune, Nora and Ren….. seeing them together had sent her spiraling into an abyss that was forcing her to relapse. She deftly touched her lips, where Weiss's had touched, ever so briefly. It had felt good, despite it's utter wrongness. After some time, she calmed down a bit. Something tugged at her hearing, and she turned. She swore she could hear music. Moving slowly, tiredly, she began to follow it. As it grew louder, she could pick out some words, a sad, lamenting song about days gone. The voice singing was soft and caring… a man. She rounded a corner of a building and saw, in the middle of a pile of snow drifts, a trash can fire. A couple of soldiers were gathered around, but the majority of those present seamed to be hunters. In the center of the small crowd was a hunter, laying on the hood of a burned out car, propped up on it's cracked windshield, strumming an acoustic guitar as another hunter gave a steady beat on a small drum. The song held a string of low notes, and without meaning too Ruby began to sway slightly to the lyrical therapy. The words turned from something sad to talk of better times and a second chance, about loss not being the end, and how the best things could be disguised under some tough pains. She didn't know what it all meant. In fact half way through the song she was practically asleep on her feet. She remembered being guided over by the fire by a couple of hunters. They didn't fuss over her or call for a medic, and just let her be. The fire had been warm, and Ruby, without meaning too, had fallen asleep to the sound of that hunter's song. She woke up a couple hours later, a bit groggy. The soldiers and hunters were still present but the music had stopped. People were instead simply talking, laughing, and trying to stay warm. One side of Ruby's body felt freezing, the fire only warming one side. Her cloak was wet on the edges, but thankfully she wasn't soaked. It was still dark, but when she looked at her watch it was nearly 5 in the morning. She stood shakily, and a hunter stepped forward, helping her up. She hadn't got a look at the crowd before, but she recognized this hunter as the singer, his guitar on his back. "Hey, hey, hey, careful there. You alright?" he asked. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just… exhausted. Me and my team were on the road for months before we got here." "I know, I saw you and your group come in. No offense but you guys look like hell." "Yeah…. Yeah, we get that a lot." Ruby felt some strength return to her legs, but not much. "Hey, I don't mean to seam demanding, but can you walk me back to the HQ? I'm not sure I can make it all the way there on my own." "Not a problem, Mon-cheri, it would be my pleasure." He said, offering his arm to her. She excepted, and they began a sort of trudge back towards the hotel. "You look like something is on your mind." he stated. He didn't push her for details, simply stating what he saw. "Yeah…. Crazy stuff.. I made a mistake that might blow up in a big way." They rounded a corner a little ways from the fire pit and could see the hotel in the distance, a good four or five blocks away. Despite her seeming willingness to talk about it, the other hunter didn't push, and indeed didn't say anything for half the walk, humming lightly his song from the night before. "Hey… what's that song about? I've never heard it before." "Ha, funny you should ask. I wrote it." "It's good. What's it about?" "Well… it's about making mistakes. And what happens afterwards. Making up for your mistakes, and moving forward." "Hmmmm….. do you.. do you think you can come back? From all mistakes?" "I don't know about that. I haven't made all the mistakes yet. But.. I believe in redemption. And, a little bit of luck." Ruby felt a lot of what he said were platitudes, things she'd heard before. But none the less, it made her think, made her remember. There was a time when she believed everything would work out too. that's why she had accepted her position as team leader. How she had lead them through so much. How they had survived. Because she acted, not necessarily fearlessly, but because she believed, in the end, things would work out… When had she stopped believing that? She couldn't even remember. What had Ozpin said? 'I've made more mistakes than any man or women. But I wouldn't count appointing you to team leader among them.' something like that, she recalled. The walk passed quickly thanks to her companion, and before she knew it they were back in the town square, standing before the hotel. She had regained her feet, for the moment, but she was now barely operating. Still, she had the foresight and strength to thank her new friend. "By the way, what's your name?" "Well, Ms. Ruby, you may call me David. I hope you have a good night." His answer had been short and friendly, and with it he left, whistling his song as he went. She watched him go for a moment. Her eyes had been a bit too tired to catch any distinct features about her companion, but none the less she was glad to meet him. She felt, if not back to normal, much better, and she walked into the hotel on her own two feat. When she got back to her room, Blake was asleep, one of her gushy romance novels clutched in her hands as her face made odd movements, living out parts of the book in her dreams. Ruby's good feelings had partly worn off. Every step made her feel more and more tired, and when she reached her bed she collapsed onto it, not even bothering to undress. She would deal with it in the morning. She was asleep even before her eyes closed all the way. - Weiss woke earlier than she had hoped she would, but she knew she had to. If she knew one thing about Ruby it's that she would run from her if Weiss gave her the chance. She popped out of bed with all the energy she could muster, which wasn't much. Her whole body hurt and she nearly collapsed in pain. Instead, she worked hard to stretch out, gasping and crying as her sore muscles cried out. After a few minutes of carefully working her body, however, the pain had subsided to a warm ache. On the other bed, Yang grunted something about breakfast foods and rolled over, blanket on the floor and hair tangled with her clothes, in response to Weiss's cries and grunts. Taking a moment to acknowledge Yang when she had finished tormenting herself, Weiss considered her against her sister. They got along well, and both were beautiful people. But at the same time, they were pretty different, and not just in looks. Yang was reckless, a fighter through and through. Kind of like Nora but without that innocent demeanor. Probably the most adult of all of them in a lot of ways. And, unlike Ruby, she was always intimidating. The super confidence she embodied often made Weiss shudder. Ruby, on the other hand, was much more caring about others, and pushed herself to better those around her. Weiss never once thought Ruby wanted to be a Huntress for herself. It was impossible for that to be true. Ruby was probably the least selfish of all four of them… Except maybe when it came to cookies. Weiss thought it was because of this that Yang was like a second mom to Ruby, pushing her just like Weiss did and making sure she took care of herself. Weiss had no attraction to Yang, but she could definitely see why others were attracted to her. Shaking her head, she turned her mind back to her plan. She rushed first to the bathroom, taking a bracing cold shower, then speed dressing herself. After taking care of her hygiene, carefully brushing her teeth (admittedly on the hope that there would be more kissing), she rushed down the hall a bit to Ruby's room and planted herself firmly in front of the door, planning to shove her way in when it opened, or bust it down if it didn't. Of course, there was only one way in and one way out, and Blake wouldn't take kindly to being kept prisoner, so it wasn't like the door could stay closed forever. Weiss was still more than a little miffed about the whole ordeal. After all, Ruby had been so tempting, even back at Beacon. If Yang had really noticed them fumbling around each other, you'd think she would have mentioned the mutual attraction to one of them. 'I mean, we had been RIGHT THERE! Would it have killed her to say something?' She also felt slightly upset about how Ruby had been acting before they kissed, and about what had happened when she had kissed her. She had clearly been in immense pain since before they even had that huge fight in the woods. She had gone from her bubbly, caring self in the beginning to what was essentially a hermit, refusing to talk except in response to direct questions, barely looking at her team. And when they had kissed… Weiss shivered just remembering it. She had looked almost furious, and Weiss had been able to detect the slight tremors of anger through her soft, comforting lips. It was almost as if she was holding back the urge to hurt her. Thinking on that, she decided to keep her distance while she explained, lest Ruby be over come with some sort of fit of anger or even some sort of lustful impulse. Though she smiled slightly to herself as she tried to imagine Ruby doing such a thing. Their shy, corner booth, mechanic leader being so brash. She decided that she probably wasn't in danger from something like that happening. Odds are Ruby would distance herself from Weiss at first. An hour or so after she had first woke up, the door opened and a tired looking Blake stepped out, barely having time to register Weiss before she shoved past, then reversed direction, closing the door on her confused teammate's face. Blake stood there for a moment, baffled, then shrugged and headed down to the hotel cafeteria. Jaune had told them it served as the officer's mess hall, while the main army made use of various kitchens in different restaurants within the city. Their supplies were at a high at the moment, thanks to the fish from the lake and a supply train that had arrived a few day's ahead of team RWBY. The elevator arrived empty and she road down alone, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and trying to decide what to say to Yang. It was going to be a long day. Weiss glanced around the room, freezing as she took in the sight. Like her own room, there were two beds against one side of the room, and a floor to ceiling window on the far side. They had slept without closing the curtains to the outside, and the sun, rising over the ruined exterior city, played golden light over the bed closest to the window, which held a beautiful young woman in it, wrapped in her dirty hood. Crescent Rose was leaning against the night table between the two beds, looking just as grimy as it's maker. Despite how dirty and disheveled she looked, Weiss couldn't think of anyone else she thought matched her beauty. 'She must have gone outside or something after that shower with how dirty she is,' Weiss thought to herself, moving closer, slowly so as not to disturb her. She looked younger when she slept, more like she had at Beacon. Her breathing was easy, and the whooshing of it, in and out, could be heard across the still room. She was curled slightly on her side, her hands palm up on her left. Her face was curled away from the curve, her mouth slightly open, just enough to let the breath escape. Weiss immediately thought of the fairy tail, the sleeping princess, about a girl who was put under a curse by a jealous witch and her prince charming had come to her rescue, kissing her and breaking the spell. Weiss had always scoffed a bit at the story, but when she was younger she used to wonder what the prince must have felt, looking down at his princess. Now, now she felt like she understood. That tender, loving gaze, mixed in with awe and a bit of nerves. As Weiss got within arms reach of Ruby, she shifted, mumbling something she couldn't hear as Ruby rolled onto her back, one hand over her chest and the other still palm up on at her side. The sun caught her face, and Weiss had a slight gasp intake. 'She's adorable when she sleeps.' Weiss froze at the change in her position, but after a few minutes, it was clear Ruby wasn't getting up. She continued forward, coming to a stop on the left side of the bed. Ruby looked so fragile, laying there. Weiss, either caught up in the drama of the moment, or out of an actual feel for the story, (she wasn't quite sure, but thought, hoped, it was the later) gently repeated the line from the story. "Feel my lips on yours, and wake, for we are one and the same with our love..." And she leaned down and placed her lips gently against the soft curves of Ruby's. Of course, with their combined bad luck, Ruby's eyes flew open at the contact. For a moment, she merely stared as Weiss continued, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the feeling. Ruby was sure it was a dream. After all, it was picking up pretty much where her dream had left off. But then Weiss pulled away, her eyes still closed as she continued to feel the echos of her lips. Ruby placed her fingers against her mouth, not understanding, not getting it. But she had to make sure this was real. She stood quietly. Weiss had backed up towards the wall opposite the beds. Ruby strode forward, silent in bare feet, and pushed her lips against Weiss's, who's eyes were still closed. That changed quickly, her own eyes flying open, and she made a move as if to push Ruby away. But Ruby still not convinced this was fully real, and not sure if she really cared, wouldn't have it. She wrapped her fingers around Weiss's wrists, pushing her backwards, till she was pressed against the wall. Ruby was shorter, but she was also stronger, and Weiss, still worn from the journey and weakened by the situation, couldn't bring herself to push Ruby off of her. The situation had started out as romantic, but things had fallen apart almost immediately. Weiss, pressed against the wall, had stopped struggling almost immediately and had begun to kiss Ruby back, her hands held over her head in iron grips. Ruby, holding her there, now sure this wasn't a dream, pushed harder, their clothing restraining them slightly as she wanted to feel Weiss. Her tongue slipped into Weiss's mouth and tangled with her's, and for a time they melded that way. Ruby finally released Weiss's arms and instead gripped behind Weiss's head, pulling her into a full lip lock. Weiss wasted no time in returning the favor, and the two, for a few moments, were air locked into a heat infused kiss the likes of which neither had experienced before. Soon, though, they both needed air, and they broke apart, gasping for breath. Neither could speak and neither bothered to try as they stared at each other fervently. Now it became a game of who recovered first. Weiss won their waiting game, and pushed Ruby backwards. Ruby, surprised, took a few steps back with the momentum, tripping over her feet. She fell backward, landing on the bed, and Weiss, in her excitement, practically jumped on her. Weiss, having the advantage, pushed Ruby down and kissed her again, scrabbling at the laces of her partner's corset, though in her rush she has no idea what she was doing. Ruby was not idle during this and reached around Weiss to get at the lace strings that held the gown in place. Weiss, realizing that, 1; she had lost control of the situation much faster than she had assumed she would, and 2; she didn't even care anymore. She reached behind her back, breaking her kiss with Ruby and, for the first time since they started looked her in the eye. She was beautiful now, the sun catching the side of her face and a shadow falling, slanted, over her eyes, which glowed in the dark like diamonds. Weiss reached behind her back to help, starting at the bottom while Ruby trailed down from the top. There were only 5 knots, and their hands met at the last one. Each moved a hand to the others face, and together, they pulled the strings apart. Weiss's night gown fell open across Ruby's chest, revealing her perfect porcelain skin, the only mar, her scar over her left eye. She pulled back, trying to gauge the expression on Ruby's face. Her face held nothing but a healthy dose of lust. Weiss's only remaining clothes were a light blue set of underwear, which should have made her quite beautiful, but which she now felt the immediate need to shed. She straightened, her movements becoming hastier as she struggled with the bra strap. After a moment of watching this with an amused expression, Ruby said "here," reaching up and unhooking it in a single try. The bra followed the nightgown, landing with a dull thump on Ruby's ample chest. Weiss quickly shoved the clothes to the side, impatient to get Ruby's off. Ruby began to get pulled into the enthusiasm, trying to help Weiss take off her night shirt. After a few seconds of struggling, it went the way of Weiss's clothes. Looking over each others bodies, they began to take in the subtle but defined differences between them. Ruby, having grown almost half a foot since school, was about a half inch taller than Weiss. Weiss's body was less bony than it had been, filling out to match her devastatingly sexy legs. Her breasts had grown as well, but not by much. Her constant work, as well as her weapon preference, meant that her building had gone to slightly different places. Ruby, on the other hand, had followed her older sister (sort of) in that section. Her breasts, which hadn't exactly been small in the first place, had filled out, and her insistence on wearing her corset often made it hard for Weiss to concentrate during a fight. She slept without a bra, and Weiss could see the hardness of her nipples, although that didn't stop her hands from seeing for themselves. As her fingers gently curled around the soft skin, Ruby let out a low moan, her fantasies from Beacon, and after, having been nothing compared to the actual feel of Weiss's gentle, searching touch. After a few seconds of this, Weiss once again placed her lips against Ruby's, feeling the perfect curves as they formed against her own. Ruby's hands began to explore again, trailing down the silky smoothness of Weiss's hair, which was outside of its usual clipped tail. She trailed down her back till they came to rest at the hem of her panties. Weiss's own hands were resting against the top of Ruby's sweat pants. However, neither was quit sure what to do. There was a tender, romantic feeling to their current setting, and somehow, it felt wrong to violate that by going further. After all, neither of them had really been expecting this situation. Before either could decide how to proceed, an alarm began to sound in the distance. A low, whirring sound that quickly rose in pitch. In answer, closer alarms began going off, and shouts and motors could be heard outside. A loud speaker sounded somewhere. "Grimm assault squads on the outskirts of the town. Section of the wall has collapsed inward, the exterior guards are pinned down. All hunters, report for immediate support. All soldiers, report to the magazine for weapon distribution. All armed individuals, report to the breach." Suddenly, the door burst open, and Yang ran in. The 2 girls looked up, ashamed and embarrassed, but Yang didn't even bat an eye. She said, "The camp is under attack. You're going to have to put that off till later, girls." Once the others were presentable, she tossed them their respective weapons, and they ran out of the room. They ran out of the lobby of the hotel, and ruby stopped just short of a truck loaded with soldiers that blew past her. In the distance, smoke mingled with dark shapes in the sky. Ruby and the others latched onto another truck that was heading the same way, and they sped towards the battlefield. Despite the relatively short distance, they were forced to go slowly as civilian work crews were being directed back towards the main base, and they picked up more soldiers along the way. It took the better part of an hour for them to reach a quickly put together Forward Operating Base. A half dozen trucks spat soldiers out and then turned, rushing back to get more. A few dozen robotics formed a firing line along a large pile of rubble. While most of the damage was hidden from the newcomers, Ruby and the others could see that the unstable section of wall that they had noted upon entering, was now blasted inwards. Something large, armored, and with a flash of glowing red sat on the other side of the breach, but Ruby couldn't make out what exactly it was. Taking a quick look around, she saw a 6 story building that was mostly intact, and raced towards it. Her team followed, shouting after her to wait, but she needed to see what was going on. Her sore muscles, which screamed at her at first, warmed up quickly as anticipation released adrenaline into her blood. In a few minutes she was on the top story of the building. Most of the walls had been destroyed, so she had an unobstructed view of the carnage. Overhead, smoke fluxed with the wings of Nevermores and Griffins. Every few seconds, one of the larger ones would swoop down, unleashing a hail of feathers before wheeling back. The feathers hit everyone, Grimm and human alike. Below, among the rubble fields that not even 24 hours before had been filled with soldiers and workers, talking, laughing, and gathering, were now flooded with easily a hundred small grim and a dozen larger ones. Beowolves mixed with Bloodfangs, dinosaur shaped Grimm that had the appearance of large Utah raptors, Crawlers, and Ursa. Towering above them were Goliaths, mounted with small cannons and guns from which human soldiers fired at the defenders down below. Pockets of survivors appeared in the black lake below, firing at the Grimm and working to pile rubble into defensive position. And on the other side of the wall was a virtual giant of a Grimm. Four glowing red eyes situated themselves to either side of a head the size of a boulder. Armor, unlike many of the other Grimm, appeared nailed directly into it's skin and armor plates. It stood 4 stories above Ruby's current position. Arms nearly as long as it was tall supplemented short legs, and a bowed back was mounted with two smoking cannons, clearly used to blow open the wall. it's body was as thick as two buildings, and large enough that, thankfully, it couldn't enter the fortress. Shapes that looked unbelievably tiny on the creatures back moved to reload the cannons. "Oh my Gods..." Ruby heard over the devastation. She turned around to see her team had arrived. Weiss had a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide, while Blake… look frozen. Yang's eyes were already Crimson, and a haze filled the air around her. "Come on, we need to go," Ruby said. "Yang, I want you and Blake to work relief for the survivors. Pull them back and get them to the defensive lines. We can work together to push them back." "Al…." Blake swallowed hard, shaking herself. "Alright, you got it Ruby." She and Yang left together, going back down the building partway before jumping into the fray. Other hunters were visible in the war zone beneath them, marked by the waves of destruction they left in their wake. "Weiss….. I need you to focus on supporting the hunters. Use your glyphs to make them faster, stronger. Disrupt the enemies, and stay at a distance." Ruby saw indignation flash across Weiss's face. "It's not because I think your weak and it's not because I am trying to protect you. Please, just trust me. We need every advantage we can get. Once you have done what you can, do whatever you feel you need to. Alright?" Weiss seemed to think for a second, then suddenly kissed Ruby. "Alright, love. I trust you. Let's get started." 


End file.
